Attorney General KK Venugopal Refuses Consent To Invoke Contempt Against Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal

The Attorney General for India, KK Venugopal, refused to grant consent for the invocation of contempt of court against Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal for his remarks against the Supreme Court which he made last month while speaking at a function at Constitution Club of India. 

Venugopal had stated that the comments made by the Senior Advocate were in the larger interest of the justice delivery system.

On August 6, Sibal, an independent Rajya Sabha MP, had criticised the Supreme Court for its recent verdicts.

Venugopal stated that he found Sibal's critique was not intended to scandalise the Court or to affect the confidence of the public in the institution.

Advocate Vineet Jindal had written a letter seeking Attorney General's consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Sibal for words which allegedly "scandalised" the verdicts pronounced by the Top Court.

Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act prescribes that the approval of Attorney General is a prerequisite before the initiation of contempt proceedings before the Supreme Court of India.

Venugopal said, "The statements which pertain to loss of faith in the Supreme Court are not contemptuous on the face of it, as the import of those statements is the fact that the orders of the Supreme Court are not implemented on the ground."

He further stated that the words of Sibal did not cast any aspersion on the Apex Court.