JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, CJI.

1. The Court has taken up these proceedings suo motu in the context of an order dated 17 July 2024 passed by Justice Rajbir Sehrawat, Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, while entertaining a contempt proceeding titled Naurty Ram vs. Devender Singh IAS and Another, COCP-87-2022 (O&M).

2. The underlying facts which gave rise to the contempt proceeding do not need to engage the attention of this Court. However, while dealing with the contempt proceedings, Justice Sehrawat has made observations in regard to the Supreme Court of India. Those observations are a matter of grave concern. Since the order forms part of the public record of the High Court, it is unnecessary for this Court to extract those observations, particularly, given the course of action which this Court proposes to adopt.

3. The principles governing the comity between the High Courts, on one hand, and the Supreme Court as the apex judicial institution of the country, on the other, are dealt with in numerous decisions of this Court. We may only reiterate the principles which have been laid down in the decision of this Court in Tirupati Balaji Developers (P) Ltd. vs. State