The matters were heard briefly and adjourned to August 17 by Justice V P Tipnis and Justice S S Parkar as the petitioner, Arvind Ghatpande, filed an application saying he could not appear before the court in view of his ill-health.

One petition sought action against Thackeray under the Contempt of Court Act for allegedly commenting in a public meeting during October 1996 that judges were prone to taking bribes and that he knows of a case where a judge had taken Rs 35 lakh to decide a matter favourably. The second petition challenged a statement by the Sena chief allegedly commenting on a HC judgement in the sensational Kini death case.