During the hearing of a case involving the Haryana government, Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant revealed that, following one of his orders, an individual had telephoned his brother to question how the Justice could have passed such a directive. In response, the Justice sternly reprimanded the counsel appearing on behalf of the Haryana government, stating that such conduct amounts to contempt of court. He issued a warning that he knows how to deal with such matters, even if the individual in question is located outside the country.
The case pertained to Nikhil and Ekta Punia—a brother-sister duo from Haryana—who had sought preferential benefits for PG medical admissions based on a ‘Buddhist Minority Certificate.’ Terming this an abuse of the system, the Court dismissed their petition and raised questions as to how candidates belonging to the Jat community could have obtained minority certificates. The Court observed that this constitutes a novel form of fraud and emphasized that the rights of minorities cannot be usurped.