New Delhi, Mar 12 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday slapped an advocate with contempt of court when the latter used the name of Fali S. Nariman during his argument, about which the court objected.

Arguing against the practice of appointing senior Supreme Court advocates through a writ petition, lawyer Mathews Nedumpara pronounced the name of Fali S. Nariman, himself a distinguished Supreme Court lawyer, which the two judge-bench found to be contempt in the face of court.

The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman-- son of Fali S. Nariman -- and Vineet Saran.

The plea by National Lawyers Campaign was to do away with the system of appointing senior advocates by the judges, which Nedumpara argued to be a system used partially by the judges to promote their relatives.

It is in this context on March 5, Nedumpara happened to take the name of Fali S. Nariman, which did not find favour with the bench.

"Conduct of this kind deserves punishment which is severe. Though we could have punished Nedumpara by this order itself, in the interest of justice, we issue notice to Nedumpara as to the punishment to be imposed upon him for committing contempt in the face of the court.

"Notice returnable within two weeks from today," the court said in its order dismissing the writ petition.