TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1972 (9) TMI 142
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....g as Commissioner of Hindu Religious Endowments, Orissa. The office of the Commissioner is created by the Orissa Hindu Religious Endowments Act. 2. In village Sanabagalpur there are two deities. The Additional Assistant Commissioner of Hindu Religious Endowments took action under s. 27 of the said Act for appointing an interim trustee of the deities. The person incharge of the deities made an objection under s. 41 of the said Act that the Act did not apply as the deities were consecrated under a private endowment made by him The Additional Assistant Commissioner rejected the objection by his order dated July 26, 1967. Without making any inquiry under s. 41, he held that prima facie there was a public endowment. He did not appoint the obj....
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....ther against the order, we have moved the Supreme Court, and as such, the matter can be safely deemed to be subjudice. 3. In order to establish that the petitioner is the hereditary trustee, he has to file an application under section 41 of the Act. No doubt the court can initiate such a proceeding, But we should not do it where the institution appears to be safely a public one, in this instance, a Siva temple." 5. The applicant filed a writ petition in the High Court against this order. The Division Bench, on hearing the applicant, issued notice for contempt of the High Court to the appellant. The High Court took exception to the following sentence occurring at the end of paragraph 2 in his order : "Further, against the order w....
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....t to find that though he has functioned as a judicial officer for about 23 years he has not been able to pick up the approach and attitude of a judicial officer and has actuated by the bias so often manifested in action of the -executive today while disposing of a judicial proceeding and when found fault with has come up with the stand that he was acting administratively." 8. After examining the matter further, the High Court said : "The conduct of the condemner far from being bonafide is clearly a malafide one and he intentionally avoided to follow the decision of this Court by advancing grounds which were most inappropriate." On that view of the matter the High Court found him guilty of contempt of court and admonished him ....
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....pages 5 and 6). 12. It is a commonplace that where the superior court's order staying proceedings is disobeyed by the inferior court to whom it is addressed, the latter court commits contempt of court for it acts in disobedience to the authority of the former court. The act of disobedience is calculated to undermine public respect for the superior court and jeodardise the preservation of law and order. The appellant's case is to be examined in the light of the foregoing principles and analogy. 13. The remark in the appellants order found objectionable by the High Court is this : "Further, against the order we have moved the Supreme Court, and as such the matter can be safely deemed to be subjudice." It may be observed that on ....
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....itimate reasons. In East India Commercial Co. Ltd. Calcutta and Another v. The Collector of Customs, Calcutta ([1963] 3 S.C R. 338 at 366) Subba Rao J. observed : "The Division Bench of the High court held that a contravention of a condition imposed by a licence issued under the Act is not an offence under s. 5 of the Act. This raises the question whether an administrative tribunal can ignore the law declared by the highest court in the State and initiate proceedings in direct violation of the law so declared. Under Art. 215, every High Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself. Under Art. 226, it has a plenary power to issue orders or writs f....