SC acts against two officials for summoning Anil Ambani

Even as the Supreme Court reserved its judgement on contempt plea against RCom chairman Anil Ambani, it has come on record that two officials tried to tamper with the order, summoning the industrialist.

Acting tough, the top court dismissed the two officials after finding that they had tampered with the court's order purportedly granting exemption from personal appearance to Ambani before a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday evening dismissed Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, using his power under Article 311 of the Constitution.

On January 7, the order stating "personal appearance of the alleged contemnor(s) is dispensed with" was uploaded on the Supreme Court's website.

It was found to be in contrast to the order directing personal appearance of contemnors.

After it was pointed out to the court on January 10, a revised order was uploaded stating, "personal appearance of the alleged contemnors(s) is not dispensed with."

On an inquiry into the entire episode, the top court decided to crack the whip and dismissed two officials.

The apex court had on Wednesday reserved its verdict on Ericsson India's plea seeking contempt action against Reliance Communications Ltd chairman Ambani and two others for non-clearance of its Rs 550-crore dues.