Supreme Court issues show-cause notice to every office bearer of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee in a suo motu contempt matter

6 November 2026

A Supreme Court bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi has directed that show-cause notice go to every office bearer of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, not only to its President Sunny Joseph, in a suo motu matter registered as a writ petition. The notices ask why proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 should not be initiated over a social media post of 12 October 2026 that sought the resignation of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. Counsel accepted notice and waived service for the office bearers, but the Court still asked its Registry to serve each of them, a group counsel put at more than forty. The Supreme Court's power to punish for contempt of itself comes from Article 129 of the Constitution, which makes it a court of record. An amicus curiae has been appointed to advise whether civil or criminal contempt should be taken up.