S. Gurumurthy, Editor of Tamil magazine Thuglak, has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court challenging an order passed by Advocate General (A-G) R. Shunmugasundaram on September 27, 2021. The A-G had recalled an order passed by his predecessor Vijay Narayan on March 31, 2021, refusing to give consent for initiating criminal contempt of court proceedings against the petitioner for his comments about the judiciary during the magazine’s annual meet with its readers on January 14, and decided to rehear the matter.

The writ petition has been listed for admission before Justice Anita Sumanth on Thursday. Since the incumbent A-G had passed the order on a recall petition, preferred by advocate S. Doraisamy of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, the petitioner had impleaded the lawyer alone as a respondent to his case. He contended that an application filed by the advocate in January last year seeking the then A-G’s consent for initiating contempt proceedings, had reached a logical conclusion with Mr. Narayan refusing to grant such consent.

However, after May 2021, when there was a change in the A-G’s office, Mr. Doraisamy had chosen to file a recall petition and it was allowed, the petitioner said, claiming that such a course of action was unprecedented and that it was in contravention of the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. He also alleged that there was a “motive” behind the recall order and said that he is a bitter critic of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which came to power in the State following the Assembly elections held last year.

“The advocate who moved for consent for initiating the contempt action has been an ardent supporter of the DMK in power now and the successor A-G is an appointee of the newly elected government,” the petitioner’s affidavit read and referred to a Supreme Court verdict to stress his point that all judicial and quasi- judicial proceedings, should be dealt with by persons who were above any suspicion.