Ericsson-RCom Case: SC Dismisses 2 Officials for Tampering With Order on Anil Ambani’s Appearance

Taking serious note of a development related to alleged tampering of an order seeking business tycoon Anil Ambani’s personal appearance in the R-Com- Ericsson case, the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday dismissed two Supreme Court officials – Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty. The order was passed by a bench headed by Justice Rohinton Nariman in contempt of court proceedings against Reliance ADAG Group’s Anil Ambani.

Reporting the development, The Telegraph newspaper which comes out from Kolkata said, “The court exercised extraordinary powers under Article 311 of the Constitution to dismiss the court masters, Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, who held the rank of assistant registrars. Court masters are responsible for taking down all orders dictated in the open court or in the judges’ chambers.”

According to the report, the decision to dismiss the two officials was taken by Gogoi on Wednesday evening after a preliminary inquiry suggested tampering of the order.

“On January 7, the order that was uploaded on the Supreme Court website said the “personal appearance of the alleged contemnor(s) is dispensed with”, meaning Ambani’s presence was not required, in a contempt case filed by Ericsson India. The telecom firm has moved court for dues of Rs 550 crore from Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom),” the report said. Ericsson India had entered into an agreement in 2014 to operate RCom’s telecom services for a fee. Till now, RCom has missed two deadlines set by the court to clear the liabilities.

In fact, a few hours earlier, a bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman an Vineet Saran had sought the personal appearance of Anil Ambani. Under the Contempt of Court Act, a person against whom proceedings have been initiated has to appear in person unless the court in its discretion chooses to dispense with the requirement, said The Telegraph.

The newspaper cited sources as saying that the omission of word ‘not’ in the January 7 order was not viewed as “accidental” by the CJI, who took serious note of the development.

Also, the initial order was uploaded without informing the two judges on the bench, the sources told The Telegraph, and it was only when Ericsson’s lawyer Dushyant Dave brought it to the notice of Justice Nariman that the revised order was uploaded.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had reserved its order on the case.

According to PTI, during the hearing, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Ericsson India, said there was wilful disobedience of apex court's orders and contempt action should be initiated against RCom.

On October 23 last year, the court had asked RCom to clear the dues by December 15, 2018, adding that delayed payment would attract an interest of 12% a year.