1 srk smcp-127-10.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION SUO MOTU CONTEMPT PETITION NO.127 OF 2010 High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Through Registrar (O.S.)/ Prothonotary & Senior Master, High Court, Bombay. ... Petitioner Versus Mr. R. Venkata Keshavan for Bennet Colemn & Co. The Publisher, Times of India and others. ... Respondents Mr. Ravi Kadam, Advocate General with Mr. D.A. Nalawade, Government Pleader for the petitioner. Mr. Sanjog Parab i/by Mr. Mohan Rao for respondent Nos.1 to 3. CORAM : MOHIT S. SHAH, C.J. & S.J. KATHAWALLA, J. Tuesday, December 21, 2010 P .C. The learned counsel for the respondents has placed on record copy of the Times of India dated 15th December, 2010 (with apology to the Bombay High Court published on the front page). The learned counsel further invites our attention to the affidavits dated 20th December, 2010 of each of the respondents and further states that apart from tendering apology, respondent Nos.2 and 3 have also reiterated the assurance contained in para 3 of the said affidavit which reads as under:- "I most humbly submit that the news paper has a robust system of checks. I will upgrade and strengthen it further so as to ensure that such articles or news reports related to courts, do not in future, scandalize the judiciary or interfere with the administration 2 srk smcp-127-10.sxw of justice in any manner. I undertake that adequate diligence will be exercised in respect of the articles and reports covering working and functioning of the Hon'ble Court to ensure that the articles meets the highest journalistic standards and do not scandalize, interfere with or obstruct the administration of justice or cause contempt to the Hon'ble Court in any manner. In future, such reports, articles and matters will be appropriately verified and ratified before publishing the same. As a matter of fact, as expressed in this Hon'ble Court, all the articles and reports which are being received from the reporters are already being vetted and ratified by Senior Journalist's who also covers Judicial proceedings in this Hon'ble Court and only thereafter, the said information/ material is being placed on my desk for approval. In this particular instance there was an inadvertent lapse in not following the protocol." 2. The learned counsel further states that this assurance will be carried out by all the editions of Times of India and that for this purpose, the Executive Editor of Times of India will issue necessary instructions to the Editors of all the editions of Times of India in the country, specifically instructing that no article or report containing defamatory allegations against the Court or judiciary shall be published in any edition of Times of India without such report, article/matters being appropriately verified and ratified by the editor of that particular edition. 3. Having gone through the apology published in the newspaper and the aforesaid assurance and also the affidavits dated 8/9th December, 2010 filed by the respondents as well as the affidavits dated 20th December, 2010, we are of the view that the interests of justice will be served if these proceedings are closed after taking on record the apology published in the Times of India dated 15th December, 2010 and the aforesaid assurance as contained in the affidavits dated 20th December, 2010 as well as the statement made by the learned counsel for the respondents. 3 srk smcp-127-10.sxw 4. Before parting with this matter, we would like to place on record our appreciation for the positive and constructive stand adopted by Mr. Sanjog Parab, learned counsel for the respondents and also the valuable assistance rendered by learned Advocate General Mr. Ravi Kadam and learned Government Pleader Mr. Nalawade. CHIEF JUSTICE S.J. KATHAWALLA, J.