Allahabad High Court
C/M M.P.C. Public School Devanpur vs Sri Himanshu Kumar, Principal ... on 7 September, 2022
Bench: Rohit Ranjan Agarwal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 10
Case :- CONTEMPT APPLICATION (CIVIL) No. - 2734 of 2022
Applicant :- C/M M.P.C. Public School Devanpur
Opposite Party :- Sri Himanshu Kumar, Principal Secretary, Social Welfare And Another
Counsel for Applicant :- Bipin Kumar Tripathi
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
1. Supplementary affidavit on behalf of applicant and affidavit of compliance on behalf of opposite party, filed today, are taken on record.
2. Sri A.C.Mishra, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel states that the order of the writ Court, which was to the extent to decide the representation, was decided by the opposite party on 13.11.2021, copy of which has been brought on record as Annexure 1 to the affidavit of compliance.
3. Sri Tripathi, learned counsel appearing for the applicant submitted that after passing of the order dated 13.11.2021, the opposite party on 07.01.2022 and thereafter on 28.01.2022 had passed certain orders, which reflects that the order dated 13.11.2021 is in vain.
4. After hearing the respective counsel and from perusal of the record this Court finds that the order of writ Court dated 20.09.2021 was only to the extent that in case the applicant files an application along with requisite documents before the opposite party, the opposite party was required to consider and decide the same in accordance with law, which the opposite party has done.
5. Recently the Apex Court in Dr. U.N. Bora, Ex. Chief Executive Officer and others Vs. Assam Roller Flour Mills Association and another 2022 (1) SCC 101 has held that the while dealing with a contempt petition, the Court is not expected to conduct a roving inquiry. Relevant para 8 of the judgment is extracted hereas under :
"8. We are dealing with a civil contempt. The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 explains a civil contempt to mean a willful disobedience of a decision of the Court. Therefore, what is relevant is the "willful" disobedience. Knowledge acquires substantial importance qua a contempt order. Merely because a subordinate official acted in disregard of an order passed by the Court, a liability cannot be fastened on a higher official in the absence of knowledge. When two views are possible, the element of willfulness vanishes as it involves a mental element. It is a deliberate, conscious and intentional act. What is required is a proof beyond reasonable doubt since the proceedings are quasi-criminal in nature. Similarly, when a distinct mechanism is provided and that too, in the same judgment alleged to have been violated, a party has to exhaust the same before approaching the court in exercise of its jurisdiction under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. It is well open to the said party to contend that the benefit of the order passed has not been actually given, through separate proceedings while seeking appropriate relief but certainly not by way of a contempt proceeding. While dealing with a contempt petition, the Court is not expected to conduct a roving inquiry and go beyond the very judgment which was allegedly violated. The said principle has to be applied with more vigor when disputed questions of facts are involved and they were raised earlier but consciously not dealt with by creating a specific forum to decide the original proceedings."
6. In view of the law laid down by Apex Court in Dr. U.N. Bora, Ex. Chief Executive Officer and others (supra), this Court cannot examine the documents and the orders passed by the opposite party exercising jurisdiction under the Contempt of Courts Act and it is only the writ Court which is competent to adjudicate the matter.
7. In the present case the applicant was required to approach the authority by moving application, which the authority has considered and decided the same on 13.11.2021. Hence, no case for contempt is made out.
8. Contempt application is dismissed.
9. Contempt notice stand discharged.
10. File consigned to records.
Order Date :- 7.9.2022
Kushal
