TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2003 (8) TMI 363
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....atement and tendering evidence. 2. The Special Court held that taking up a false defence as pleaded in the written statement and repeating the same in the evidence in chief amounts to contempt of court and convicted the appellant to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two weeks and pay fine of Rs. two thousand. The learned Judge in the course of the order held that perjury is contempt and there is a growing tendency amongst parties not to honour their commitments and pay up their dues and liabilities and file any sort of defence irrespective of whether it is true or not; that, therefore, it is for courts to actively curb such tendencies. The Special Court prima facie felt that the defendant and deponent of written statement were aware that the defence was false at the time when written statements were filed and knowing it to be false took the same and sought to persist with it at the trial. Two show-cause notices were issued - one under sections 182, 183, 191, 192, 193, 199, 200 and 209 of the Indian Penal Code and another for contempt of court - however, no action was taken pursuant to the notice issued for offences under the Indian Penal Code and these proceedings stoo....
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....91. (f) On 29th May, 1991, the Ist Defendant lodged the said SGL transfer forms for 11.50% GOI 2008 securities of face value of Rs. 58.39 crores issued by the Bank of Karad Ltd., with Reserve Bank of India, Public Debt Office, for clearance. On 29th May, 1991, the Reserve Bank of India returned the said SGL transfer form issued by the Bank of Karad Ltd. on account of insufficient balance. On 31st May, 1991, the said SGL transfer form was again presented to the Reserve Bank of India for clearance but was again returned for want of insufficient balance. (g) The Ist Defendant thereafter handed over the said SGL transfer form for 11.50% GOI 2008 securities of face value Rs. 58.39 crores issued by the Bank of Karad Ltd. to the broker Hiten Dalal sometime in July 1991 for rectification and replacement by a fresh SGL transfer form of the said Bank of Karad Ltd. (h) During the period August 1991 to December 1991, the Ist defendant in the course of their investment business, entered into three sale transactions thereunder the Ist defendant sold 11.50% GOI 2008 securities to the plaintiffs, particulars whereof are as follows: (i)On 23rd August, 1991, the Ist defendant sold 11.50%....
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.... 7 crores) with a request to substitute the said SGL transfer forms with two SGL transfer forms, one dated 19th December, 1991 for Rs. 58.39 crores and another dated 18th December, 1991 for Rs. 1.61 crores. The said Hiten Dalal who had earlier in the day brought the said SGL transfer forms dated 26th August, 1991 for Rs. 7 crores from the plaintiffs, took the fresh 2 SGL transfer forms (one dated 19th December, 1991 for Rs. 1.61 crores) for the plaintiffs from the Ist defendant on the same day. (k) On 20th December, 1991, the SGL transfer form for Rs. 1.61 crores was presented by the plaintiffs to the Reserve Bank of India and cleared by effecting transfer of securities of face value of Rs. 1.61 crores from the Ist defendant SGL account to the plaintiffs SGL account. (l) In the aforesaid circumstances, the aforesaid transactions between the Ist defendant and Bank of Karad Ltd. and the Ist defendant and the plaintiffs were squared off by Hiten Dalal in or about December 1991 between the Bank of Karad Ltd. and the plaintiffs. On the Ist defendant transactions with the 2 banks having been squared off, the Ist defendant obligations under the said three SGL transfer forms dated 4-....
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....ntended that the learned Judge of the Special Court had gone far beyond the scope of the contempt jurisdiction, particularly when the Court held that on the basis of the documents produced by the CMF the stand of the Bank had been throughout what had been stated in the written statement, though, with reference to other material, that stand may be falsified. He contended that in a case of this nature what is important is that the party verifying the statement or tendering evidence before Court should be doing so deliberately and to his knowledge the statement must be false. He drew our attention to the fact that the learned Judge had noticed that the stand of the appellant was in conformity with plaint filed in the connected suit by CMF and that suit was yet to be tried at that stage when the order under appeal was passed. Subsequently another learned Judge who tried the suit of CMF held that the claim in the suit, which is akin to the defence as raised in the present case, is true and correct even after making a reference to the decision in the case out of which the contempt proceeding arises. Therefore, in the circumstances of the case, he submitted that when two views are possibl....