The Supreme Court will examine if a public prosecutor should mechanically sanction legal action against a public servant, including the President, Prime Minister and chief ministers, under the criminal defamation law.

The apex court will review the issue on the petition of DMDK chief Vijayakanth who is facing several defamation cases filed by Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra is likely to lay down the guidelines for a prosecutor while giving a go ahead for legal action.

The bench had on May 13 upheld the provisions that make defamation a criminal offence in India, and dismissed a batch of petitions to declare two sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in this regard unconstitutional.