New Delhi: Attorney General K K Venugopal Monday filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan for allegedly scandalising the court with his recent tweets on the appointment of former interim chief of CBI M Nageswara Rao. The contempt petition refers to the February 1 tweets by Bhushan in which he allegedly said that the government appeared to have misled the apex court and perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of the meeting of the high-powered Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister.
Venugopal, in his petition, said Bhushan deliberately intended to cast aspersions on the integrity and honesty of the Attorney General who had placed the minutes of the meeting before the apex court during the February 1 hearing. During the February 1 hearing, Venugopal had in a sealed cover placed before the bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, the minutes of the meeting of the Selection Committee which was held last month for appointing the new CBI chief.
Venugopal had informed the bench that the Centre had taken the permission of the Committee to appoint Rao as an interim CBI Director. The Selection Committee comprises the Prime Minister, the leader of the largest opposition party and the Chief Justice of India or his nominee judge of the apex court. The top court was hearing a petition filed by NGO Common Cause challenging the Centre’s decision to appoint Rao, an IPS officer, as the interim CBI director.
