TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1985 (8) TMI 388
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....ce the transfer application contained scandalous accusations against the judicial conduct of Shri N.K. Bansal, on the basis of which the present notice for contempt of Court is issued, it is reproduced in detail for proper reference: The Plaintiff-Petitioner prays as under: 1. That the Plaintiff-Petitioner has filed a suit for permanent injunction and mandatory injunction against the Defendants/Respondents above-mentioned in the court of Shri N.K. Bansal P.C.S. Sub-judge 1st Class Phagwara captioned Ajit Singh v. Bimlawati and Ors. This case is fixed for 20th October, 1983. 2. That the Petitioner apprehends that he will not have a fair trial in the said court in view of the reasons and submissions made in the following paras. 3. That the case is fixed for rebuttal evidence of the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff did not get the fair and impartial trial during whole of the proceedings of the case. The inclination and bent of mind of the learned presiding officer was always such as to provide undue favour to the opposite party. The witnesses of the Plaintiff were harassed and humiliated during trial and at the time of recording the evidence, whereas the Re....
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....in P.S. City to that effect and subsequently certain sarees were recovered from some thief's and he became a witness in that case to compensate his loss. During trial it was learnt that he cannot get the sarees because the description of the sarees stolen differed from the sarees recovered. This fact was also inquired by the Petitioner from his own sources and learnt that a case State v. Balkar Singh F.I.R. No. 139, dated 2nd August, 1980, under Section 458/380 I.P.C. was decided on 6th May, 1982. The accused was acquitted. The number, description of the sarees stolen and mentioned in the F.I.R. lodged by Kimti Lal Jain did not tally with the sarees which were alleged to have been re-recovered from the accused. The complainant was not entitled to receive them, but on obliging the presiding officer, the sarees were given to him and he was allowed to sell them. The said Kimti Lal Jain insisted that the Petitioner should oblige the presiding officer, he has got the direct intimacy with him and has obliged the presiding officer in so many cases and had the desired result. 7. That one of the Respondents No. 4, Devinder Kumar is a Reader of Sub-Judge Phillaur, previously he ....
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.... 10. It is, therefore, prayed that the suit be transferred to some other court having jurisdiction to try the same. An affidavit in support of this petition has been filed along therewith. 6th October, 1983 Sd/- Ajit Singh Petitioner. An affidavit by Shri Ajit Singh containing the same matter was also filed with the transfer application. Shri N.D. Rahi, Advocate, Phagwara was engaged as a counsel for Shri Ajit Singh in this transfer application and he appeared before the District Judge, Kapurthala. 2. The District Judge, Kapurthala, called for the comments of Shri N.K. Bansal, who denied the allegations made against him in the transfer application. He, however, expressed that he had no objection for the transfer of the case from his court. He requested the District Judge, Kapurthala, for initiating action for contempt of Court against the makers of these allegations against him, in his judicial capacity. The learned District Judge, Kapurthala,--vide orders, dated 2nd of December, 1983, transferred the case from the court of Shri N.. Bansal to some other court. The District Judge suggested that Shri N.K. Bansal may make a move to initiate the co....
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....hi, Advocate, was tried and dismissed on 8th December, 1982. 2. That during the pendency of the above-mentioned suit, Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi, Advocate, wanted special treatment being an Advocate, which could not be given nor accorded and ultimately the decision was given against him on merits. This enraged Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi, Advocate, who filed a complaint against the presiding officer to the Hon'ble High Court, which was found to be false on enquiry, conducted by the learned District Judge, Kapurthala. There was another case pending Niranjan Dass Rahi v. Parkasho and Ors. (Suit No. 32 of 27th January 1981) in which Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi, Advocate, was the Plaintiff. In this case also, Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi, Advocate, wanted a special treatment being an Advocate and when the same was not given then he got the case transferred from the court of the present presiding officer (i.e. myself) to the court of Shri S.K. Sharma, P.C.S., Sub-Judge 1st Class, Phagwara, where the suit was dismissed and was decided against Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi, Advocate. 3. That due to the above-mentioned facts, Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi Advocate nursed a grudge against the pre....
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....it Singh has levelled false, scandalous and contentious allegations which are reproduced below: (a) That the learned presiding officer's integrity is doubtful. He has organised a gang of touts, who approached the litigants to bribe him to get favourable decisions (para 6 of the application). (b) His Court depicted the picture of cruel, merciless and reckless monarch and the presence of the presiding officer seems to be that of dictator (para 8 ibid). (c) That the learned presiding officer's behaviour is very cruel, he loses his tender on petty matters. He always behaves in such a manner which created an atmosphere of terror and tension (para 5 ibid). (d) He deliberately recorded the evidence which support the Respondents (i.e., Defendants in the suit) on his own account whereas the witnesses replied nothing on those point and no evidence was given on that account (para 5 ibid). (e) The learned presiding officer has tried to demoralise the Petitioner, i.e., the Plaintiff by overawing him. He has forgotten all standards of courtesy and civility. Whenever the case was called he gave the impression that the justice is beyond the appr....
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.... allegations before putting them in black and white. In the present case, it appears that Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi Advocate was more eager to add as many false allegations as could be imagined. As such both the Plaintiff Ajit Singh as well as Shri Niranjan Dass Rahi, Advocate, have committed criminal contempt within the meaning of Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. 7. That I received a copy of application dated 13th March, 1984, signed by Ajit Singh along with power of attorney of his Advocate Ch. Pishore Singh of Kapurthala, which is addressed to the learned District Judge, Kapurthala, with a prayer that he offers unconditional apology as the transfer application was drafted by his Advocate in the lower court and Shri N.D. Rahi. He signed, the transfer application in great hurry without going through its contents and the allegations are incorrect. Copy of said application is Annexure 'D' and power of attorney is Annexure 'E'. 8. That the Criminal Contempt was committed when the contents of the transfer application became known to the presiding officer and all others during the pendency of the transfer application and therefore, the initiation of....
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....unqualified apology. Sd./- AJIT SINGH Depondent. 10. Shrri N.D. Rahi, Advocate, in his reply, admitted that his personal cases were pending in the court of Shri N.K. Bansal, Sub-Judge, 1st Class, Phagwara, but he never expected any special treatment in those cases. He controverted the Statement of Shri N.K. Bansal, as contained in reference about Civil Suit No. 101/18th of March, 1981 and stated that the suit and the counter claim were dismissed. He, however, alleged that Shri N.K. Bansal forced him to enter into a compromise. He further averred that when the presiding officer (referring to Shri N.K. Bansal) started harassing him, he got Civil Suit No. 32 of 1981 Niranjan Dass Rahi v. Parkasho transferred from his court. He admitted the filing of a written complaint against Shri N.K. Bansal, but showed ignorance about the result as it was not conveyed to him. He admitted to have appeared for Shri Ajit Singh in the transfer application before the District Judge, Kapurthala, but denied any knowledge of the allegations. According to him, the allegations were made by Shri Ajit Singh and he had nothing to do with those. In para 6 of his affidavit, he stated: That the c....
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....Raj Kishan Sachdeva was Advocate for Balkar Singh and they confirmed that they are well conversant with the said allegations also. The answering Respondent has no reasons to disbelieve a fellow Advocate, who had drafted the said application and the same being duly supported by an Affidavit by the Respondent No. 1 and as such appeared on behalf of the Respondent No. 1 in good faith. As such the answering Respondent has not levelled any scandalous or contemptuous allegations nor the answering Respondent has any intention to do so. The answering Respondent has not committed any contempt of the Court. He stated that Shri Ajit Singh is an educated person and a responsible officer in the Life Insurance Corporation of India and had not signed the application in a hurry, but had done so after going through it. Tendering unconditional apology he threw himself at the mercy of the Court. 11. Shri Ajit Singh appearing as P.W. 1 admitted the pendency of his civil suit against Bimla Wati and others and also the moving of the transfer application in question. According to him Shri R.K. Sachdeva was his counsel, who drafted the transfer, application, which was moved by him through Shri N.D. ....
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.... civility; the cannons and principles of conduct which are expected of a judicial officer. His Court depicted the picture of a cruel, merciless and reckless monarch and the presence of presiding officer seems to be that of a dictator, whenever the case was called, he gave the impression that the justice is beyond the approach of the Petitioner and he should withdraw the case and abandon the prosecution. 16. In his affidavit dated 13th of March, 1984, before the District Judge, Kapurthala, Shri Ajit Singh swore: That in this application allegations which the Applicant has now come to know and realised, were quite incorrect. He thus admitted that the allegations were incorrect or in other words were false. He in his affidavit before the District Judge, Kapurthala, in the application dated 13th of March, 1984 and reply in these proceedings by way of affidavit, took the position that he, (Ajit Singh) was not personally aware of these allegations and the application for transfer was drafted by Shri R.K. Sachdeva, who was conducting his case in the, court of. Shri N.K. Bansal and Shri N.D. Rahi. He, however, admitted to have signed the transfer application and the affidavi....
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....The meaning of the word, 'scandalise' as given in Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Volume II, 1959, Edition are: 'To utter false or malicious reports of a person's conduct, to slander, to talk scandal, to bring shame or discredit upon; to disgrace. "In Webster's World New International Dictionary, Volume III, the meanings of the word 'scandalize' given are: 'to speak falsely or maliciously of; defame; malign, to bring into reproach; dishonour, disgrace; to offend the feelings, conscience or propriety of by an action considered immoral, criminal or unseemly. Ordinarily, the word 'scandal' is something said, which is false and injurious to reputation; disgrace, opporbrious, censure; 'Scandalise' is to give scandal or offence; to shock, to reproach, to libel; and scandalisation suggests and cannots defamation. Unwarranted attack on a Judge or a contempt by means of speech or writing is characterised as 'scandalisation' and is actionable under the law of contempt. 18. The allegations in the transfer application criticise the conduct of Shri N.K. Bansal as a Judge and not in his individual capacity. An attempt was mad....
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....mmission. This conduct of Shri Ajit Singh in making the allegation noticed in the preceding paragraph was well thought and calculated. It was done with a design to defame the Judge, who, in his judicial capacity, did not accede to his request to appoint a Commission. This was done with an idea to ridicule Shri N.K. Bansal in the eyes of his superior officers. lawyers and the general public. The references to Divinder Kumar as a bribe-getter for Shri N.K. Bansal and Balkar Singh's case were uncalled for and had nothing to do with the transfer of the civil suit filed by Shri, Ajit Singh and the comments were made only as a part of the scheme to defame Shri N.K. Bansal. Such libellous accusations on the judicial conduct of a judge scandalise or tend to scandalise the court. The references to the conduct of Shri N.K. Bansal in the transfer application are scandalous, scurrilous and were made with a determined effort to scandalise the court only for the reason that the request of Shri Ajit Singh for appointment of Commission in his case was not granted. In R. Subba Rao v. Advocate General A.P. A.I.R. 1981 S.C. 755, an unsuccessful litigant issued notice to the Judge containing: ....
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....of his office and the Court. The act and conduct of the Appellant in issuing this notice, therefore, fell squarely within Sub-clause (i) and (ii) of the definition, of 'criminal contempt' given in Section 2(c) of the Act. In Asharam M. Jain v. A.T. Gupta and Ors. A.I.R. 1983 S.C. 1151 Asharam M. Jain in special leave petition before the Supreme Court filed an affidavit in which he made allegations against the Judges of the High Court in these terms: The Petitioner says that having found that they would no longer be justified in continuing to hear the Notice of Motion and appeal for the several true facts set out in the Transfer Application and the affidavits made by the Petitioner and briefly hereinabove set about the learned Chief Justice tried by the said order to harm the Petitioner as much as he could and made totally false and wrong observations quite unworthy of the head of the judiciary of the State of Maharashtra and His Lordship Mr. Justice Pendse supported the teamed Chief Justice. The said order, it is clear, has been made with the sole and dishonest object of causing prejudice in the minds of the Judges of the new Bench against the Petitioner a....
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....the majesty of law, in its active manifestation against obstruction and outrage. The law should not be seen to sit by limply, while those who defy it go free and those who seek its protection lose hope. So we approach the question not from the point of view of the Judge, whose honour and dignity require to be vindicated, but from the point of view of the public who -have entrusted to us the task of due administration of justice. Having given our utmost consideration, we have come to the conclusion that it is not open to us to accept the easy and ready solution suggested by Mr. R.K. Garg of accepting the apology and imposing a fine. We think that a contumacious disregard of all decencies, such as, that exhibited by the contemner in this case can only lead to a serious disturbance of the system of administration of justice, unless duly repaired at once by inflicting an appropriate punishment on the contemner which must be to send him to jail to atone for his misconduct and thereafter to come out of prison a chastened but a better citizen. 20. Admittedly, false allegations have the effect of scandalising the Court. They tend to lower the authority of the Court. The law of contempt ....
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....n the Life Insurance Corporation of India. It was he, who was dissatisfied with the order of Shri N.K. Bansal in declining his prayer for appointment of a Commission. His education and status do not permit us to accept his word of mouth that he had signed those documents only at the instance of his counsel. He tried to take the benefit of mental depression because of illness of a relative. Shri R.K. Uppal, Oath Commissioner, gave a direct lie to his plea when he stated that the affidavit before attestation was read out to Shri Ajit Singh. Shri Uppal's evidence cannot be doubted and mere assertion by Shri Ajit Singh, who motivated by the urge to get the case transferred had made false accusations, cannot override the testimony of the Oath. Commissioner. It may be that the allegations may not have been totally the creation of Shri Ajit Singh, but he cannot escape from this in the manner he has tried to adopt. He was conscious of the falsity and effect of these allegations. He started worrying about those after 5th of December, 1983, when the learned District Judge, Kapurthala, had suggested the initiation of the contempt proceedings. on the basis of the unfounded and false allega....
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.... the application for transfer of the case of Shri Ajit Singh from the court of Shri N.K. Bansal, against whom this Advocate had grudge. Normally, a lawyer will not accept the brief with the grounds already drafted when his own relations with the officer, because of the attitude in his personal case, are not happy. The association of Shri N.D. Rahi with the drafting of the application has to be inferred. There is nothing on the record to contradict this inference. He may have been engaged at the instance of Shri R.K. Sachdeva because of his unhappy relations with Shri N.K. Bansal. 24. A lawyer cannot disclaim any liability if it ensues from the pleadings or the application which he himself has drafted for his client or was a privy to their drafting or had presented these in case these had been brought to him in a drafted condition. More than three decades ago, the Supreme Court in M.Y. Shareef and Anr. v. Hon'ble Judges of the Nagpur High Court and Ors. A.I.R. 1955 S.C. 19 observed: ...that counsel who sign applications or pleadings containing matter scandalizing the Court without reasonably satisfying themselves about the prima facie existence of adequate grounds, t....
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....ns courteous and respectful attitude towards the Judge of the court but has to insist for a similar conduct on the part of his client. Remuneration, alone does not matter nor the cordiality of the relations with the Judge. It is no duty of a counsel to his client to take interest in the pleadings applications, etc., which contain scandalous allegations against a presiding officer of a court or having an effect of lowering his authority as a Judge without reasonably satisfying himself about the prima facie existence of adequate grounds therefor; on the contrary, his duty is to advise his client from refraining from making allegations of such nature in pleadings or applications. 25. Shri N.D. Rahi cannot get away by simply saying that he had advised Shri Ajit Singh not to make these allegations. If he had done so, then guided by the professional ethics and cognizant of the law of the land, for the contempt of Court, which he being an Advocate was expected to know, he should have excused himself from the transfer application. On the other hand it appears that he wanted to settle his own scores with Shri N.K. Bansal against whom he had already moved a complaint in writing and an app....
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....d to Shri N.K. Bansal. In para 3 of Exhibit R. 1 it is recorded: "That the Petitioner apprehends that she will not have a fair trial in the said court of rent Controller, Phagwara, in view of the following submissions and reasons...." Similar is para 2 of the application filed by Shri Ajit Singh except with the reference of the parties and their description. In para 3(iii) of Exhibit R. 1, it is recorded: The behaviour of the presiding officer with the witnesses has been very rude, cruel and the Applicant too was insulted, humiliated and harassed by the Presiding Officer whenever the case was called for hearing. In para 3 of the application filed by Shri Ajit Singh, the reference is approximately the same. In para 3 (vi) of Exhibit R. 1 it is recorded: The Court depicts the scene of a cruel, merciless and reckless monarch and the presence of presiding officer seems to be that of a dictator, when the case is called. The same language is used in para 8 of the transfer application filed by Shri Ajit Singh. In para 3(vi) of Exhibit R. 1 it is recorded: The learned Rent Controller frowns at Applicant and smiles with the Resp....
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....s affidavit stated that he highly felt repentant and submitted an unqualified apology. Shri N.D. Rahi contested the notice issued to him, but in the beginning of the affidavit he tendered apology, which has been noticed in the earlier part of the judgment. Apology has to be really a contrition and should not be a means to escape the liability. Before accepting the apology the court has to see the circumstances which led to the activity resulting in the proceedings for contempt of Court. In this case the statement of Shri Ajit Singh and the transfer application show that there was one order, which was not to the liking of Shri Ajit Singh, that is, declining of his prayer by Shri N.K. Bansal for the appointment of Commission. The order may have been very innocuous and could be agitated in a superior court. Stung by the adverse order, Shri Ajit Singh with the help of Shri R.K. Sachdeva and Shri N.D. Rahi, Advocates took to maligning the Judge. The intentional use of the language levelling the accusations noticed above cannot be taken to be honest. The intention was dishonest an the effort was to deliberately malign the court. The accusations were made with a design. and were not simpl....