The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a contempt notice to lawyer Prashant Bhushan for his tweet alleging that the centre furnished fabricated minutes of the High Powered Committee meeting on the selection of M Nageshwar Rao as interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Naveen Sinha directed Bhushan to respond to contempt applications moved separately by Attorney General KK Venugopal and the Centre. Bhushan has been given three weeks to respond and the matter will next be heard on March 7.

The top court said that while the Bar had a right to criticize judgments, comments and articles made by lawyers in a pending judicial proceeding can affect administration of justice.

The bench said it would deal with the larger question of whether it is open for lawyers or any other person to criticise the court in a sub judice matter which would lead to influencing public opinion.

Criticising the court may also lead to interference in the course of justice, the bench added.

"This issue required to be heard in length, notice issued," it said, listing the matter for further hearing on March 7.

Venugopal said he does not seek punishment for Bhushan but wants a guideline from the court to prevent such instances in future.

For Centre, solicitor general Tushar Mehta demanded punishment saying that the magnanimity shown by the court is being misunderstood as the institution's weakness and the limit of that magnanimity has been breached.

The Attorney General had moved a contempt petition against Prashant Bhushan in Supreme Court on Monday.

In his tweet on February 1, Bhushan had disbelieved the statement given by AG Venugopal to Court where he presented minutes of the meeting held on January 10 which indicated how the Selection Committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given its consent to appoint Rao as interim Director.

On that day, the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra even told Bhushan that the statement of AG was indeed true. However, Bhushan's tweet flew in the face of what the Centre and Court said. In his petition, the AG claimed that the tweet amounts to scandalising the Court and even casts aspersion on the integrity and honesty of the highest law officer of the country.

Bhushan's tweet indicated that AG had on behalf of Centre submitted a fabricated document to Court. According to him, Rao's appointment did not have the backing of the selection panel, also comprising the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Chief Justice of India or his nominee.