CHENNAI: Former judge of the Madras High Court Justice C S Karnan passed away on Friday due to illness. He was 71.
Karnan had a tumultuous stint as a judge of the higher judiciary and courted controversy and the contempt of the Supreme Court for vitriolic comments and remarks against the judges of the higher judiciary and personal attacks.
Born in 1955 at Karunatham village in Cuddalore, he did a law degree at the Madras Law College. He graduated from the Madras Law College in 1983. In 2009, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Madras HC and became permanent two years later. His career was marked by several controversies and firsts in the judiciary. He was the first HC judge to be sentenced to imprisonment after a seven-judge bench of the SC in 2017 passed an order on the same in contempt of court proceedings.
“On merits, we are of the considered view, that Sri Justice C S Karnan, has committed contempt of the judiciary. His actions constitute contempt of this Court, and of the judiciary of the gravest nature. Having found him guilty of committing contempt, we convict him accordingly.
We are satisfied to punish him by sentencing him to imprisonment for six months. As a consequence, the contemnor shall not perform any administrative or judicial functions,” the bench stated in its 2017 order. The SC stripped him of judicial and administrative work by an order on February 8, 2017, while issuing him notice for contempt of court. Subsequent to the SC order, he was on the run but was secured by the police in Coimbatore in June 2017 and had served six months imprisonment. Owing to ill health, he was admitted to a hospital in Chennai, but died after failing to respond to treatment, sources said. His funeral would be held at Karunatham village.