The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea seeking expunction of adverse observations made by the Madras High Court against a Tamil Nadu Law Officer, while sharply criticising the conduct attributed to the petitioner in the High Court proceedings.
A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta directed that notice be issued to the State, limited to the observations made by the High Court against the petitioner.
During the hearing, counsel submitted that no notice had been issued to him before the adverse observations were made by the High Court. Justice Sandeep Mehta, however, strongly criticised the petitioner’s conduct, particularly the alleged withholding of a vital document which was available in the case diary. The Bench remarked:
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“You exhibited the highest level of incompetence. You don’t deserve to be a public prosecutor. It is such a vital document you withheld. It was only available in your case diary…Technically you are right that no notice was given but you don’t deserve any notice. As a matter of fact, you don’t deserve to be a public prosecutor.”
The Court clarified that the notice at this stage would be confined to the observations made by the High Court against the petitioner, and directed notice to the Government/respondent No. 1.