New Delhi, March 10 (Agencies): The Supreme Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant against serving Calcutta High Court judge Chinnaswamy Swaminathan Karnan to ensure his presence before it on March 31 in a contempt case.

”There is no other alternative to seek presence of Shri Justice C.S. Karnan. We issue bailable warrants of the sum of Rs 10,000 in the nature of personal bond to the satisfaction of the arresting officer,” a seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said.

The court had served a contempt notice on Justice Karnan, 61, for making allegations against Madras High Court’s chief justice to the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister and others, when he was in Madras high court. He had been transferred to Calcutta high court last year after he allegedly got into a scrap with fellow judges.

The bench on Friday directed West Bengal’s police chief to personally execute the arrest warrant on Justice Karnan to ensure his presence before it on March 31, the next date of hearing.

The other members of the bench were Justices Dipak Misra, J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M.B. Lokur, P.C. Ghose and Kurian Joseph.

The bench refused to consider a communication, written to the Supreme Court’s registry on March 8, as his response to the notice issued against him earlier.

At the outset, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that Justice Karnan had defied the Supreme Court order and the apex court rules on contempt provide for issuance of bailable warrants against a contemnor to ensure his presence.

The apex court said that the Supreme Court registry has received a fax from Justice Karnan on March 8 in which he had discussed certain administrative issues.

The bench, however, refused to consider the March 8 communication as a response of Justice Karnan on the contempt notice observing that it reflected allegations “on certain named judges”.

On February 8, the apex court had asked Justice Karnan to appear in person and explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him. It had restrained him from undertaking judicial and administrative work.

But Justice Karnan failed to appear before the apex court on February 13, the scheduled date.

On February 10, Justice Karnan had written a letter to the apex court in which he had reportedly played the Dalit card asking the Supreme Court to refer the matter to Parliament, contending that contempt proceedings were “not sustainable”.

”Before obtaining any explanation from me, I wish to state that the courts have no power to enforce punishment against a sitting judge of the High Court. The said order does not conform to logic, therefore it is not suitable for execution,” he had said in the letter.

During the last hearing, senior advocate K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Registrar General of the Madras High Court, had said the High Court judges needed protection from Karnan's verbal abuse and “wild charges”.

He had said the judge had levelled rape charges against a sitting fellow judge.

Last year, when Justice Karnan was transferred from the Madras to the Calcutta high court for his alleged contemptuous conduct, he had passed an order staying his transfer.

The Supreme Court stayed this order, and also all orders passed by him since the date of his transfer to Calcutta high court.

Justice Karnan later said his order staying his own transfer had been “erroneous” and a result of his “mental frustration resulting in loss of his mental balance”.