Commission of Inquiry not a court: limited statutory fiction cannot extend contempt jurisdiction beyond the Act's express purposes.

A Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 was held not to be a Court for the purposes of the Contempt of Courts Act, because it was conferred only limited civil court powers and the statutory deeming provisions operated only for the specific offences and purposes stated in the Act. A legal fiction cannot be extended beyond its express language. The essential attribute of a court is the power to deliver a definitive or confirmable judgment, whereas the Commission functioned only as a fact-finding body assisting the Government and its findings were not subject to confirmation as a judicial decision. On that basis, publications could not be treated as contempt merely because they related to the Commission.

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Issues: Whether a Commission of Inquiry constituted under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 is a Court within the meaning of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1952, and whether proceedings before it are judicial proceedings for the purposes of that Act.

Analysis: The Commission was conferred only certain powers of a civil court. The statutory deeming provision in Section 5(4) treated it as a civil court only for the limited purpose of offences specified in the provision, and Section 5(5) treated its proceedings as judicial proceedings only for the limited offences mentioned there. A legal fiction must be confined to the purpose for which it is created and cannot be extended beyond the language of the statute. The essential attribute of a court is the power to deliver a definitive judgment or a judgment capable of becoming definitive upon confirmation by another authority. The Commission under the 1952 Act was only a fact-finding body meant to assist the Government and its findings were not liable to confirmation so as to acquire the character of a final judicial decision.

Conclusion: The Commission of Inquiry was not a Court within the meaning of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1952, and the publications could not be proceeded against as contempt on that basis.

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