Rcom vs Ericsson: CJI dismisses two Supreme Court staff for deliberate omission

In an odd development, the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has dismissed two court masters — Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty — for tampering with a court order directing personal appearance of Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani in a contempt case.

A bench led by justice RF Nariman on January 7 while issuing contempt notice on a plea by Ericsson made it clear that Ambani’s personal appearance was not dispensed with. However, the order that was uploaded on the website (by the two court masters) said “personal appearance of the alleged contemnor(s) dispensed with”. The word “not” was omitted to suggest that Ambani wasn’t required to appear in person, and an inquiry revealed that the omission was deliberate.