(Adding matter in para five)

New Delhi, Sep 20 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed a bailable arrest warrant against former Navy Chief and Transparency International India Chairman Admiral(Retd) R H Tahiliani for branding judiciary as the 'second most corrupt institution' in the country after police.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice B N Aggarwal stayed the arrest warrant issued by a judicial magistrate in Jammu and Kashmir.

The judicial magistrate of Kangan had initiated a suo-motu contempt proceedings on the basis of a newspaper report based on the findings of a study by Transparency International India (TII).

TII and Centre for Media Studies had conducted a study on corruption in various government departments. The study----'India Corruption study 2005' was earlier released by the President of India.

The court also issued notice to the state of J and K on a petition seeking to quash the contempt proceedings initiated by the Magistrate who has no power to initiate such proceedings as the power is vested only in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.

UNI AKS SAM RP