The Supreme Court has summarily dismissed two court masters for allegedly tampering with its order directing personal appearance of Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani, reported The Telegraph.
According to Nation Herald, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as the administrative head of the court dismissed Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, who held the rank of assistant registrars. The court masters are responsible for taking down all orders dictated in the open court or in the judges’ chambers.
They were reportedly dismissed for tempering with the January 7 order passed by the bench of Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran that had directed personal appearance of Anil Ambani in the contempt petitions filed by the Swedish Telecom equipment maker Ericsson.
The bench had specifically made it clear that personal appearance is “not” dispensed with but the copy of the order uploaded in the official website of the top court stated personal appearance is dispensed with. The summons issued to Ambani also stated “personal appearance is dispensed with”.
However, the discrepancy was brought to the notice of the bench on January 10 by Dushyant Dave, senior counsel appearing for Ericsson. The bench headed by Justice Nariman was shocked to know about it. It reportedly clarified that it had specifically required the presence of Anil Ambani.