TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (9) TMI 1526
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...., is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals. Respect for law and its institutions is the only assurance that can hold a pluralist nation together. Any attempt to achieve solutions to controversies, however, ideologically and emotionally surcharged, not on the basis of law and through judicial institutions, but on the strength of numbers will subvert the fundamental values of our chosen political organisation. It will demolish public faith in the accepted constitutional institutions and weaken people's resolve to solve issues by peaceful means. It will destroy respect for the Rule of Law and the authority of courts and seek to place individual authority and strength of numbers above the wisdom of law." Mohd. Aslam v. Union of India, (1994) 6 SCC 442. 1. Since the issues raised in all the captioned appeals are the same; the parties are also same and the challenge is also to the self-same judgment passed by the High Court of Gujarat those were taken up for hearing analogously and are being disposed of by this common judgment and order. 2. There are in all three appeals before us. 3. The Civil Appeal No. 4955 of 2....
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.... default to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two (2) months. (iv) It is declared that following sale deeds executed by accused Nos. 3.1 to 3.4 through accused no. 4 as power of attorney holder in favour of purchaser as non est and it is hereby ordered to be cancelled, quashed and set aside and respondents are directed to restore the position which was prevailing prior to the execution of the aforesaid sale deeds which was prevailing at the time of the order dated 14.10.2015 passed in Special Civil Application No. 16266 of 2013. The said sale deeds are as follows: - LIST OF SALE DEEDS Sr. No. Sale Deed Date Plot Area Plot No. Consideration Name of the purchaser 1 9-11-15 118.48 79 103115/- Jagdish Chug 2 9-11-15 118.48 80 103115/- Rama Rani 3 19-2-16 118.48 119A 8500/- Prakash Kundu 4 19-2-16 118.48 199B 8500/- Prakash Kundu 5 19-2-16 118.48 200 8500/- Prakash Kundu 6 15-3-16 118.48 122B (56) 8500/- Mafatlal Kalidas HUF 7 15-3-16 118.48 122C (55) 8500/- Mafatlal Kalidas HUF 8 17-5-17 152 27 8500/- Sudesh Dingra 9 17-5-17 152 27A 8500/- Shilpi Ravi 10 17-5-17 152 28 8500/- Roshan Lal 11 2....
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....nd that too upon instructions of the clients that the subject matter i.e., the property would not be sold till the main petition i.e., the Special Civil Application No. 16266 of 2013 is finally disposed of. 8. On the strength of the aforesaid order one Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) filed by the respondents herein against an interim order also came to be disposed of vide order dated 21.10.2015, which reads thus: "Mr. Prabhav Mehta learned advocate for the applicants states that in view of the order dated 14 October, 2015 passed by learned single Judge in Civil Application No. 11412 of 2015 in SCA No. 16266 of 2013, wherein the statement is recorded that the property in question qua the subject matter of this entry shall not be sold until the main petition is heard and decided, he seeks permission to withdraw the proceedings. Permission is granted. Accordingly, the Civil Application No. 10627 of 2015 and LPA(Stamp) No. 1195 of 2015 in SCA No. 16266 of 2013 with the Civil Application (Stamp) No. 10539 of 2015 shall stand disposed of as withdrawn." (Emphasis supplied) 9. It appears that despite having undertaken that the property qua the subject matter of the disputed entry would n....
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.... 19.26 49000/- 298530/- 30-10-18 13 555 Yogesh Kumar Patel 175 118.48 8500/- 568704/- 25-7-17 340230/- 7605666/- 12. The High Court, thereafter, in para 27 of its impugned judgment took notice of the affidavit dated 23.01.2019 filed by one of the contemnors. Para 27 reads thus: "27. In fact the 4th respondent in his affidavit dated 28.08.2005 filed in the present proceeding also admits this fact in paragraph 6 which is already extracted herein supra. In fact in the affidavit dated 23.01.2019 filed in the present contempt proceeding, 4th respondent has categorically deposed to the following effect: "I state that I am the power of attorney holder of other respondents in Misc. Civil Application for contempt. I declare that I had authorised Senior Advocate Shri S.H.Sanjanwala to state before the Hon'ble Court that I will not transfer, sell Survey No.63 and 65 situated at Majura till final disposal of the Special Civil Application No.16266 of 2013." (Emphasis supplied) 13. In para 28, the High Court observed thus: "28. As to what would be the evidentiary value of the statement made by the learned Senior Advocat....
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....der the sale deeds; and they had also not denied that the power of attorney was not cancelled. The High Court also took notice of the fact that the explanation offered by the contemnors that the sale deeds had to be executed as the sale transactions had already been completed, was an afterthought and lacking bona fide. 16. In para 35 of the impugned judgment, the High Court observed that the contemnors had not only violated the undertaking given to the court but had also taken undue advantage unto themselves, namely, the sale consideration having flown from the purchasers to the contemnors. The High Court in this regard observed the following in para 35: "35. In the instant case the contemnors have not only violated the undertaking given to the Court but have also taken undue advantage unto themselves namely the sale consideration has flown from the purchasers to the vendors i.e. the contemnors. Even according to the recitals found in the Sale Deeds referred to in the tabular column hereinabove, it is depicted as Rs.2,82,730/- (in respect of 11 Sale Deeds); in respect of 2 Sale Deeds executed in the year 2017-18, the consideration has been depicted as Rs.3,40,230/-. As per the i....
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....ence the complainants contend that respondent No.4 maliciously sold the subject property at under value rate and has caused huge loss to the public exchequer. To highlight the fact that alleged possession certificate which has been relied upon to contend that sale transaction had already been completed way back in the year 2012 when compared to the Sale Deed dated 09.02.2016, it would clearly indicate that survey numbers depicted in both these documents are distinct and different. Hence, contending that the possession receipts executed in favour of Prakash Kundu as well as cash receipts produced on record are forged, bogus and concocted and contrary to the facts, the complainants have sought for the said documents being excluded from the purview of consideration of this Court." (Emphasis supplied) 17. In para 36, the High Court took notice of the fact that the contemnors in categorical terms had admitted in their affidavit filed in the proceedings, that they had sold the subject property though fully conversant and aware of the undertaking given by them before the Court that they would not sell the property till the disposal of the main petition. 18. In para 37, the High Court ....
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....f vide sale deed dated 25.07.2017. Respondent No. 4 who had been examined as a witness in Special Civil Suit No. 130 of 1995 in his deposition (Annexure B-2) has admitted that he was aware of the interim order in which breach is alleged. In fact he has also deposed that all the family members are well aware of the order dated 14.10.2015. His admission reads thus: "It is true that my Advocate. Mr. Shirishbhai Sanjanwala, under my instructions, gave oral undertaking that for Survey No. 63 and 65 of Majura will not be sold till the final outcome of CMA. I do not remember it orally but it might be mentioned in the Honourable High Court of Gujarat Application No. 16266/13 in reference to the undertaking given by me to my Advocate Mr. Shirishbhai Sanjanwala, after reading over the order dated 14.10.2015 that what was the reason that he gave the assurance on my behalf. I did not have the occasion of meeting advocate Mr. Shirish Sanjanwala after 14.10.2015 or having discussion with him."" (Emphasis supplied) 20. The High Court thereafter, considered whether the unconditional apology tendered by the contemnors deserved to be accepted and whether they should be exonerated from the cont....
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....nued. The proceedings initiated were not barred under Section 20 of the Act 1971. 22. In the last, the High Court recorded what had happened on the date when the contemnors remained present in the court to answer the charge framed against them. The High Court observed in para 61 as under: "As such, this Court by order dated 18.12.2018 directed the contemnors to be present personally and to answer as to why charge should not be framed against them. In reply to the same, an affidavit has been filed by the contemnors on 24.12.2018 admitting thereunder the disobedience and breach of the undertaking given to the Court. In the words of fourth respondent, the admission reads to the following effect: "2. I sincerely regret that the execution of the sale deeds was in breach of the statement made by learned counsel on my behalf. I hereby sincerely tender unconditional apology with clear understanding that there is breach of the statement. I submit that there is no scope for justification of the action of execution of sale deeds which I undertook under the pressure built up by the agreement-holders. I request Your Lordships to accept my apology if deem fit and proper."" (Emphasis supp....
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....sale deeds was left. (f) The High Court committed error in recording that the properties were sold even after the notice of contempt was issued to the appellants. 26. In support of aforesaid submissions, the learned Senior Counsel placed reliance on the following case law: (i) Rama Narang v. Ramesh Narang and Another, (2006) 11 SCC 114; (ii) Anil K. Surana and Another v. State Bank of Hyderabad, (2007) 10 SCC 257; (iii) Bharat Steel Tubes Limited v. IFCI Limited, (2010) 14 SCC 77; and (iv) Abhishek Kumar Singh v. G. Pattanaik and Others, (2021) 7 SCC 613. 27. In such circumstances referred to above, the learned Senior Counsel prayed that there being merit in his appeal, the same be allowed and the impugned judgment and order of the High Court be set aside. 28. Mr. Mihir Joshi, the learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants in the Civil Appeal No. 5041 of 2022 made the following submissions: (a) The High Court has erred in not accepting the apology tendered by the appellants on the ground that it was not tendered at the first instance. Notice in Form-I was issued on 23.04.2018. After issuance of notice, the very first affidavit of the appellant dated....
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....nk ledger statements, in respect of the subject sales produced before the High Court. The High Court erred in holding that no material had been placed to establish or demonstrate that the property had in fact been sold in the year 2012 itself. The High Court erred in holding in para 35 that an imaginary plea had been made by way of a defence that cash transaction took place for sale in the year 2012 wherein no date is mentioned. (ii) The High Court erred in holding that the documents as above were purportedly concocted and that only the income tax returns could be the best evidence. (iii) The High Court overlooked the fact that the impugned sale transactions were only of 1521 sq.mtrs. of survey no. 63 admeasuring 33,790 sq.mtrs. and that the survey no. 65 admeasuring 31,095 sq.mtrs. was unsold and vacant which clearly reflected adherence to the statement as understood by the Appellants and supported the explanation of the Appellants that the subject sales of small plots of 118 sq.mtrs. each had to be formally concluded since the actual transfers had taken place many years prior to 14.10.2015 and the allottees were being seriously prejudiced in development of the plots and such ....
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....make it necessary to pass a sentence of imprisonment also. Before passing an extreme sentence, the Court ought to assign special reasons after proper application of mind. There is absolutely no justification or reason set out in the judgment supporting a bare conclusion that imprisonment is justified in the case. (ii) The High Court erred in overlooking the bona fides of the Appellants which would have established that there was no wilful breach of the statement recorded in the order dated 14.10.2015 and in any case, would certainly not justify imprisonment. In particular, the Court has overlooked that the appellant tendered his unconditional apology at the first instance on 24.08.2018; explained the transaction with necessary documents immediately thereafter on 07.10.2018 without detracting from the apology; proposed remedial measures of keeping an equivalent area of land open and vacant till the filing of the petition by way of affidavit dated 04.01.2019; that additional land was offered over and above the one proposed in the earlier affidavit vide affidavit dated 09.01.2019 and that the Appellants had personally remained present before the court at all hearings of the contempt....
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....the learned Senior Counsel placed reliance on the following case law: (i) Sevakram Prabhudas v. H.S. Patel and Others, 2000 (1) vol. 41 GLR 715; (ii) Mrityunjoy Das and Another v. Sayed Hasibur Rahaman and Others, (2001) 3 SCC 739; and (iii) Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India and Another, (1998) 4 SCC 409. 30. In such circumstances referred to above, the learned counsel prayed that there being merit in his appeal, the same be allowed and the impugned judgment and order be set aside. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENTS 31. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the respondents herein vehemently submitted that no error not to speak of any error of law could be said to have been committed by the High Court in passing the impugned judgment and order. 32. The learned counsel appearing for the respondents made the following submissions: (a) The assurance given by the learned senior advocate to the court as recorded in order dated 14.10.2015 by the High Court is a clear undertaking as per Sections 12 and 13 respectively of the Act 1971. It should be seen as a clear-cut undertaking given to the court and it is supposed to be binding to the parti....
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....celled the sale deeds executed during the pendency of the contempt proceedings, which they have not done. It is only in the present proceedings that they have tried to show that they attempted to cancel the sale deeds by way of sending letters to the plot holders. Thus, they have tried to show that they made an effort to comply with the order of the High court, but no proof has been produced as to when and in what manner the notices were sent or executed i.e., by way of post or email or courier etc. Such dubious conduct of the appellants goes to show that despite committing contempt and having shown no remorse, they are still trying to misguide this Court by producing such documents which from their very bare reading appear to be false, unreliable and fabricated. (g) In the course of the hearing of the appeals, Mr. Joshi, the learned senior counsel had suggested an alternate remedy of keeping aside the land of Survey No. 65, but in reality, the appellants have sold that very land also during the pendency of contempt proceedings in the year 2021. Thus, the contemnors have tried to misguide this court by making such false statements. 33. In support of his aforesaid submissions, th....
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.... EXERCISE OF CONTEMPT JURISDICTION 40. The object of the discipline enforced by the court in case of contempt of court is not to vindicate the dignity of the court or the person of the Judge, but to prevent undue interference with the administration of justice. 41. Any interference with the course of justice is an affront to the majesty of law and the conduct of interference is punishable as contempt of court. Public interest demands that there should be no interference with the judicial process, and the effect of the judicial decision should not be pre-empted or circumvented. (Reliance Petrochemicals Ltd. v. Proprietors of Indian Express Newspapers Bombay Pvt. Ltd. and Others reported in (1988) 4 SCC 592). 42. If a party, who is fully in the know of the judgment/order of the Court, is conscious and aware of the consequences and implications of the order of the Court, acts in violation thereof, it must be held that disobedience is wilful. To establish contempt of court, it is sufficient to prove that the conduct was wilful, and that the contemnor knew of all the facts which made it a breach of the undertaking. 43. The following conditions must be satisfied before a person can ....
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....or obstruction to the majesty of law. It is in this context that the observations of this Court in Murray case [(2000) 2 SCC 367 : 2000 SCC (Cri) 473] in which one of us (Banerjee, J.) was party needs to be noticed: (SCC p. 373, para 9) "The purpose of contempt jurisdiction is to uphold the majesty and dignity of the courts of law since the image of such a majesty in the minds of the people cannot be led to be distorted. The respect and authority commanded by courts of law are the greatest guarantee to an ordinary citizen and the entire democratic fabric of the society will crumble down if the respect for the judiciary is undermined. It is true that the judiciary will be judged by the people for what the judiciary does, but in the event of any indulgence which can even remotely be termed to affect the majesty of law, the society is bound to lose confidence and faith in the judiciary and the law courts thus would forfeit the trust and confidence of the people in general."" 47. The Constitutional Bench of this Court in the case of Supreme Court Bar Association (supra), while discussing the ambit of powers under the Act 1971 and the principles to be followed while punishing a par....
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....rt directing that the conveyance be completed by an appointed person. Disobedience of an undertaking may in the like manner be enforced through process other than committal to prison as for example where the breach of undertaking is to deliver possession of property in a landlord-tenant dispute. Apart from punishing the contemner, the court to maintain the majesty of law may direct the police force to be utilised for recovery of possession and burden the contemner with costs, exemplary or otherwise. Xxx xxx xxx 36. In deciding whether a contempt is serious enough to merit imprisonment, the court will take into account the likelihood of interference with the administration of justice and the culpability of the offender. The intention with which the act complained of is done is a material factor in determining what punishment, in a given case, would be appropriate. Xxx xxx xxx 42. The contempt of court is a special jurisdiction to be exercised sparingly and with caution whenever an act adversely affects the administration of justice or which tends to impede its course or tends to shake public confidence in the judicial institutions. This jurisdiction may also be exercised w....
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....transactions to be void in order to maintain the majesty of law? (iv) Whether the beneficiaries of a contemptuous transaction have a right to be heard in the contempt proceedings on the ground that they are necessary or proper parties as they are bona fide purchasers of the suit property for value without notice? (v) Whether the apology tendered by the contemnors deserves to be accepted or is it a legal trick to wriggle out of responsibility? WHAT IS WILFUL DISOBEDIENCE? 50. In order to decide whether the appellants are guilty of civil contempt, we would like to refer to Section 2(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, which reads as under:- "2. Definitions.-In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- xxx xxx xxx (b) "civil contempt" means wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court;" 51. The Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, at page 1599, defines "willful" as hereunder: "Proceeding from a conscious motion of the will; voluntary; knowingly; deliberate. Intending the result which actually comes to pass; designed; intentional; purposeful; not ac....
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....the disobedience of any judgment, decree, direction or writ but should also be satisfied that such disobedience was wilful and intentional. The civil court while executing a decree against the judgment-debtor is not concerned and bothered whether the disobedience to any judgment, or decree, was wilful. Once a decree has been passed it is the duty of the court to execute the decree whatever may be consequence thereof. But while examining the grievance of the person who has invoked the jurisdiction of the court to initiate the proceeding for contempt for disobedience of its order, before any such contemner is held guilty and punished, the court has to record a finding that such disobedience was wilful and intentional. If from the circumstances of a particular case, brought to the notice of the court, the court is satisfied that although there has been a disobedience but such disobedience is the result of some compelling circumstances under which it was not possible for the contemner to comply with the order, the court may not punish the alleged contemner." (Emphasis supplied) 53. In Ashok Paper Kamgar Union v. Dharam Godha and Others reported in (2003) 11 SCC 1, the expression 'wi....
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....a [Chordia Automobiles v. S. Moosa, (2000) 3 SCC 282], Ashok Paper Kamgar Union v. Dharam Godha [Ashok Paper Kamgar Union v. Dharam Godha, (2003) 11 SCC 1], State of Orissa v. Mohd. Illiyas [State of Orissa v. Mohd. Illiyas, (2006) 1 SCC 275 : 2006 SCC (L&S) 122 : AIR 2006 SC 258] and Uniworth Textiles Ltd. v. CCE [Uniworth Textiles Ltd. v. CCE, (2013) 9 SCC 753].)" (Emphasis supplied) 55. The aforesaid decision also holds as under:- "11. The contempt jurisdiction conferred on to the law courts power to punish an offender for his wilful disobedience/contumacious conduct or obstruction to the majesty of law, for the reason that respect and authority commanded by the courts of law are the greatest guarantee to an ordinary citizen that his rights shall be protected and the entire democratic fabric of the society will crumble down if the respect of the judiciary is undermined. Undoubtedly, the contempt jurisdiction is a powerful weapon in the hands of the courts of law but that by itself operates as a string of caution and unless, thus, otherwise satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, it would neither be fair nor reasonable for the law courts to exercise jurisdiction under the Act. Th....
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....hat he was misunderstood." (Emphasis supplied) 59. As the entire controversy revolves around the question whether the statement made by the learned counsel before the High Court was an undertaking on behalf of his clients and if yes then whether such undertaking could be said to have been given to the court, we must look into two decisions on this point; one rendered by the Bombay High Court and another by the Calcutta High Court. The Bombay High Court in Bajranglal Gangadhar Khemka and another v. Kapurchand Ltd. reported in AIR 1950 Bom 336, took notice of a practice wherein the undertaking would not expressly mention that it was given to the court but the High Court took cognizance of the fact that the expression "undertake" had come to acquire through long practice, a technical meaning. The High Court speaking through M.C. Chagla, C.J., made the following observations: ".... The clause does not state to whom the undertaking is given, and it may be that it would be possible to hold that, as the parties were settling the dispute between themselves, the undertaking was given by one party to the other; or, at the highest, the only thing that could be urged would be that the exp....
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....rms of the settlement had only recorded that the opposite party "gives an undertaking to the effect that he would quit." 61. This Court in Rama Narang (supra) while referring to the Contempt of Courts Act, 1952, had noticed that it did not contain many of the provisions of the Act 1971 for the Legislature had left formulation of the law of contempt to the Courts, which had resulted in conflicting views expressed by different High Courts. Reference was made to the conflicting view expressed by the Calcutta High Court in Nisha Kanto Roy (supra) and the Bombay High Court in Bajranglal Gangadhar Khemka (supra). In the former case, it was held that a compromise decree passed by the Court containing an undertaking was nothing more than an agreement of the parties with the sanction of the Court super-added. The order passed by the Court cannot mean anything more than an agreement and had no greater sanctity than the agreement itself. Per contra, the Bombay High Court, in Bajranglal Gangadhar Khemka (supra) had drawn a distinction between the execution proceedings and proceedings for contempt which arise from wilful default of an undertaking. The judgment referred to the long-standing pra....
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....972] 1 WLR 307 (Ch D)])." (Emphasis supplied) 62. Thus, it is evident that Section 2(b) of the Act, which defines civil contempt, consists of two different parts and categories, namely, (i) wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or (ii) wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court. The expression "any" used with reference to the first category indicates the wide nature of power given to the Court and that the statute does not draw a difference between an order passed after adjudication or an order passed by consent. The first part or category is distinct and cannot be treated as a part or taking colour from the second category. This Court consciously observed that the Courts in England have held that the breach of consent decree of performance by refusal to execute an agreement was punishable by way of contempt proceedings. With reference to the second part, in Rama Narang (supra) it was observed that giving of an undertaking is distinct from a consent order recording compromise. In the latter case of violation of compromise, no question of contempt arises, but the party can enforce the order of compromise either by ex....
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....t." 65. In Rita Markandey v. Surjit Singh Arora reported in (1996) 6 SCC 14, it was observed that even if parties have not filed an undertaking before the court but if the court was induced to sanction a particular course of action or inaction on the representation made by a party and the court ultimately finds that the party never intended to act on the said representation or such representation was false, the party would be guilty of committing contempt. It was observed:- "12. Law is well settled that if any party gives an undertaking to the court to vacate the premises from which he is liable to be evicted under the orders of the court and there is a clear and deliberate breach thereof it amounts to civil contempt but since, in the present case, the respondent did not file any undertaking as envisaged in the order of this Court the question of his being punished for breach thereof does not arise. However, in our considered view even in a case where no such undertaking is given, a party to a litigation may be held liable for such contempt if the court is induced to sanction a particular course of action or inaction on the basis of the representation of such a party and the c....
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....ies, even though the Court might record it and append its order thereto and in case of the failure of a party to comply with the terms of a consent order, the injured party cannot apply for committing the defaulter for contempt; his remedy is by way of specific performance or injunction. However, when a party secures an order from the court on giving an undertaking to the Court that he will take a particular course of action or inaction, such undertaking itself operates as an injunction made by the Court because the Court has made its order on the faith of the undertaking, e.g., stay of execution of the decree or order." (Emphasis supplied) 68. The Court then expressed that they were definitely of the opinion that it was an unconditional and unqualified undertaking to the court even though the words to that effect were not used either in the statement or order of the Court. 69. Thus, the expression a party "undertakes" or "gives a solemn promise" or "it is stated at the Bar on instructions from clients that the property shall not be sold" used in the statements of the parties or their counsel or in the orders and decrees of the court, unless the context otherwise suggests, mean....
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....ties, had negotiated a settlement outside the court and reported the same to the court and the court would have passed an order, in terms of such understanding, there would be no scope to warrant that the undertaking was not given to the court. 73. An undertaking or an assurance given by a lawyer based upon which the court decides upon a particular course of action would definitely fall within the confines of "undertaking" as stipulated under Section 2(b) of the Act 1971 and the breach of which would constitute "civil contempt". As held in M. v. Home (supra) relied upon by this Court in Rama Narang (supra) that if a party or solicitor or counsel on his behalf, so as to convey to the court a firm conviction that an undertaking is being given, that party will be bound and it will be no answer that he did not think that he was giving it or that he was misunderstood. The breach of an undertaking given to a court by a person in a pending proceeding on the faith of which the court sanctions a particular course of action is misconduct amounting to contempt. 74. In our view, the High Court was justified in saying while holding the appellants guilty of civil contempt that but for the unde....
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....nge in the rights and liabilities of others. Similar view was expressed by this Court in Satyabrata Biswas and Others v. Kalyan Kumar Kisku and Others reported in (1994) 2 SCC 266, wherein the contempt jurisdiction was invoked by the respondents against the appellants, and during the contempt proceedings, it transpired that a sub tenancy was created while the status quo order was in operation. This Court held that creation of sub-tenancy was in violation of the status quo order and parties were relegated to the position as existed on the date of the status quo order. This Court, inter alia, observed thus: "23. ... Such an order cannot be circumvented by parties with impunity and expect the court to confer its blessings. It does not matter that to contempt proceedings Somani Builders was not a party. It cannot gain advantage in derogation of the rights of the parties, who were litigating originally. If the right of sub-tenancy is recognised, how is status quo as of 15.9.1988 maintained? Hence, the grant of sublease is contrary to the order of status quo. Any act done in the teeth of the order of status quo is clearly illegal. All actions including the grant of sub-lease are clearl....
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....order of stay or injunction to not let the defaulting party enjoy any undue advantage. This Court while relying upon cases decided by various High Courts held as under: "The contemner should not be allowed to enjoy or retain the fruits of his contempt Xxx xxx xxx 18. The above principle has been applied even in the case of violation of orders of injunction issued by civil courts. In Clarke v. Chadburn [(1985) 1 All ER 211] Sir Robert Megarry V-C observed: "I need not cite authority for the proposition that it is of high importance that orders of the court should be obeyed. Wilful disobedience to an order of the court is punishable as a contempt of court, and I feel no doubt that such disobedience may properly be described as being illegal. If by such disobedience the persons enjoined claim that they have validly effected some charge in the rights and liabilities of others, I cannot see why it should be said that although they are liable to penalties for contempt of court for doing what they did, nevertheless those acts were validly done. Of course, if an act is done, it is not undone merely by pointing out that it was done in breach of the law. If a meeting is held in br....
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....tice between the parties before it." (Emphasis supplied) 86. This Court in Vidur Impex and Traders Private Limited and Others v. Tosh Apartments Private Limited and Others reported in (2012) 8 SCC 384, while deciding on a similar factual scenario held that the sale transactions conducted in teeth of the injunction passed by the Delhi High Court did not have any legal basis. This Court held as under: "42. ... At the cost of repetition, we consider it necessary to mention that Respondent 1 had filed suit for specific performance of agreement dated 13-9-1988 executed by Respondent 2. The appellants and Bhagwati Developers are total strangers to that agreement. They came into the picture only when Respondent 2 entered into a clandestine transaction with the appellants for sale of the suit property and executed the agreements for sale, which were followed by registered sale deeds and the appellants executed agreement for sale in favour of Bhagwati Developers. These transactions were in clear violation of the order of injunction passed by the Delhi High Court which had restrained Respondent 2 from alienating the suit property or creating third-party interest. To put it differently....
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....on which was prevailing at the time of the order dated 14.10.2015 passed by the High Court. In our opinion, the High Court was fully justified in declaring the sale deeds as non est or void. IMPLEADMENT OF PURCHASERS AS NECESSARY PARTIES 90. We now proceed to answer the question whether the clients of Mr. Shyam Divan i.e., purchasers should have been impleaded as party respondents in the contempt proceedings before the High Court and whether they should have been heard before passing the final order. 91. In the case of Satyabrata Biswas (supra), it was held that no person can gain an advantage in derogation of rights of the parties. In the said matter an order was passed, directing the parties to maintain status quo with respect to the disputed property. The appellant therein however, acted in contempt and created a sub-tenancy in favour of one Somani Builders, who was not made a party to the contempt proceedings before the High Court. Somani Builders contended that they should have been made a party to the proceedings as they possessed a right in the disputed property. This Court rejected the said contention and observed as under: "23. ... It is no use contending as Mr. Chid....
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....ders with impunity. If disobedience could go unchecked, it would result in orders of courts ceasing to have any meaning and judicial power itself becoming a mockery. The right cannot be doubted that the court is empowered by the statute to issue injunction against the defendant in appropriate cases in such terms as the court thinks proper. Machinery has been provided to penalise the person who disobeys the order which is binding on the person injuncted as a part of the fundamental rule of law which governs equity. The further question that is required to be considered is whether the act itself committed in breach of the order remains unscathed. In our opinion, taking the view that such a transaction in all circumstances irrespective of binding circumstance or nature of the order does not affect the transaction would be encouraging breach of the injunction order by any person venturing to suffer penalty and would result in cutting at the very roots of the effective nature of the orders and attainment of the object for which the courts exist and exercise judicial power. xxx xxx xxx 73. From the above, it is clear that apart from countenancing the proceedings for contempt for brea....
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....d to be impleaded as party and observed: "5. ... The respondents indisputably cannot challenge the legality or the validity of the Will executed and registered by Hira Devi on 26-5-1952. Though it may be open to the legal heirs of Rajender Kaur, who was a party to the earlier suit, to resist the claim on any legally available or tenable grounds, those grounds are not available to the respondents. Under those circumstances, the respondents cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be said to be either necessary or proper parties to the suit. A necessary party is one whose presence is absolutely necessary and without whose presence the issue cannot effectually and completely be adjudicated upon and decided between the parties. A proper party is one whose presence would be necessary to effectually and completely adjudicate upon the disputes. In either case the respondents cannot be said to be either necessary or proper parties to the suit in which the primary relief was found on the basis of the registered Will executed by the appellant's mother, Smt Hira Devi. Moreover, admittedly the respondents claimed right, title and interest pursuant to the registered sale deeds said to have ....
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....and the contemnor. This Court held as under: "12. ... A contempt is a matter between the court and the alleged contemnor. Any person who moves the machinery of the court for contempt only brings to the notice of the court certain facts constituting contempt of court. After furnishing such information he may still assist the court, but it must always be borne in mind that in a contempt proceeding there are only two parties, namely, the court and the contemnor. It may be one of the reasons which weighed with the legislature in not conferring any right of appeal on the petitioner for contempt. The aggrieved party under Section 19(1) can only be the contemnor who has been punished for contempt of court." (Emphasis supplied) 97. Thus, from the aforesaid, it is evident that it was not necessary for the High Court to implead the purchasers in the contempt proceedings. In fact, we may go to the extent of observing having regard to the facts of the case that the purchasers were quietly watching the proceedings. It is not as if they were not aware of what was happening however, when things went wrong, they now cry foul of not being impleaded as parties and heard by the High Court. We ar....
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....he contempt has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of the contempt and the punishment may be enforced, with the leave of the court, by the detention in civil prison of such director, manager, secretary or other officer. Explanation.-For the purposes of sub-sections (4) and (5),- (a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and (b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm." 99. Section 12 of the Act 1971 provides for the punishment of contempt. Proviso to this section states that the accused may be discharged or the punishment awarded may be remitted on the apology being made to the satisfaction of the court. Explanation to this says that the apology shall not be rejected merely on the ground that it is qualified or conditional, if the accused makes it bona fide. Therefore, what is requirement of the provision is that the apology which is either qualified or conditional made by the allege....
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....e courts will not hesitate and will convict delinquent officer and that no lenience in the court's attitude should be expected from the court as a matter of course merely on the ground that an order of conviction would damage the service career of the concerned officer". 104. In re. Tapan Kumar (supra), this Court was dealing with a public servant facing an action for contempt. 105. We wonder what could be the ultimate outcome if we accept the apology and allow the appellants to go scot-free. First, they would have to face no legal consequences for the alleged act of contempt and secondly, would continue to enjoy or retain the fruits of their contempt. We say so because they have already pocketed a sizeable amount towards the sale consideration obtained from the purchasers. 106. In the case of Sub-Judge, First Class, Hoshangabad v. Jawahar Lal Ramchand Parwar reported in AIR 1940 Nagpur 407, Justice Bose (as he then was) said that an apology is not a weapon of defence forged to purge the guilty of their offences. It is not an additional insult to be hurled at the heads of those who have been wronged. It is intended to be evidence of real contriteness, the manly consciousnes....
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....i v. High Court of Punjab & Haryana [(1991) 3 SCC 600 : 1991 SCC (Cri) 897 : (1991) 3 SCR 312] ). 76. In T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad (102) v. Ashok Khot [(2006) 5 SCC 1], a three-Judge Bench of this Court had an occasion to consider the question in the light of an "apology" as a weapon of defence by the contemnor with a prayer to drop the proceedings. The Court took note of the following observations of this Court in L.D. Jaikwal v. State of U.P. [(1984) 3 SCC 405 : 1984 SCC (Cri) 421] : (Ashok Khot case [(2006) 5 SCC 1] , SCC p. 17, para 32) "32. ... We are sorry to say we cannot subscribe to the 'slap- say sorry-and forget' school of thought in administration of contempt jurisprudence. Saying 'sorry' does not make the slapper taken the slap smart less upon the said hypocritical word being uttered. Apology shall not be paper apology and expression of sorrow should come from the heart and not from the pen. For it is one thing to 'say' sorry-it is another to 'feel' sorry." The Court, therefore, rejected the prayer and stated: (SCC p. 17, para 31) "31. Apology is an act of contrition. Unless apology is offered at the earliest opportunity and in good grace, the apology is ....
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....circumstances and whether it will be in the interest of justice to accept the same. 9. The facts which will weigh with the Court while considering acceptance of an apology are the contemptuous conduct, the extent to which the order of the Court has been violated, irresponsible acts on the part of the contemnor and the degree of interference in the administration of justice, which thereby cause prejudice to other parties. An apology tendered, even at the outset, has to be bona fide and should be demonstrative of repentance and sincere regret on the part of the contemnor, lest the administration of justice be crudely interfered with by a person with impunity. The basic ingredients of the rule of law have to be enforced, whatever be the consequence and all persons are under a fundamental duty to maintain the rule of law. An apology which is not bona fide and has been tendered to truncate the process of law with the ulterior motive of escaping the consequences of such flagrant violation of orders of the court and causes discernible disrespect to the course of administration of justice, cannot be permitted. The court has to draw a balance between cases where tendering of an apology i....
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....circumstance while considering the consequential orders to be made, once a person is found to have committed Contempt of Court, civil or criminal. It is a factor relevant to be considered while devising the final order to be made against the contemner. An apology can only be considered which is in real sense remorseful and to the satisfaction of the Court as a contrition by the respondents. Ordinarily, belated apologies are considered to be offered more out of fear of punishment than with a sense of contrition. But merely because the apology has been tendered, not at the first instance, but at a later stage, by itself cannot be a ground for not considering it. Had it been so, proviso to Sec. 12 which makes it possible even after sentence of punishment has been made, to remit the same on considering the apology given thereafter. In short, whether an apology tendered at any stage of the proceedings is to be considered as mitigating circumstances or not depends on facts and circumstances of that case and that principle is not inhibited by any precedent. The precedents serve as guidelines." (Emphasis supplied) 110. The Constitution Bench of this Court in M.Y. Shareef and another v. ....
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....ith a view to gain wrongfully gambled in the hope that ultimately, they would get away by tendering an apology. This is the reason why such fake apologies should not be accepted by the court and allow a person who has no regard for the Majesty of law to get away from the legal consequences. There is no occasion for us to show any compassion as contempt has been committed and proved beyond reasonable doubt and the effect of this contempt has been felt on the Majesty of the High Court. The litigating public cannot be encouraged that such a situation can continue or the court will not rise to the occasion to book people violating its orders. The law is very clear that the court should not get compassionate and dilute an indictment and not follow it with conviction. The fact that the appellants have committed contempt is not in doubt. The law enjoins that a punishment must follow. 114. We take notice of the fact that the issue of limitation to initiate the contempt proceedings was also raised before the High Court. The High Court has answered the same quite elaborately. In fact, this issue was not raised before us during the course of the hearing of these appeals. We need not go into ....