Court On Its Own Motion vs Lok Nath Grover & Anr.
2009 Latest Caselaw 772 Del

*        IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI


+              CONT. CAS. (CRL.) NO. 16 OF 2001


                                          Reserved On : 02.02.2009
%                                      Date of Decision : 06.03.2009


COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION


                              -AGAINST-


LOK NATH GROVER & ANR. ... RESPONDENTS / CONTEMNORS
                   Through : Mr. Rakesh Tiku and
                             Mr. Aditya Bhardwaj,
                             Advocates for R - 1.


CORAM :

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KISHAN KAUL
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDERSHAN KUMAR MISRA


1.     Whether the Reporters of local papers
       may be allowed to see the judgment?            No

2.     To be referred to Reporter or not?             No

3.     Whether the judgment should be
       reported in the Digest?                        No


SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J.

1. A suit for specific performance was filed by Mr. Rakesh

Kumar Jain and others against Mr. Devinder Singh Mehta

and another. At a stage much after filing of the written

statement, but prior to leading of evidence, the suit came

to be defended by one Mr. Lok Nath Grover, Attorney, who

filed his affidavit of evidence in support of the case of the

original defendants. The suit was decreed vide judgment

and decree dated 01.12.1999. An appeal was filed against

the same by the original defendants through the Attorney,

i.e., Mr. Lok Nath Grover. It may be noticed that the

Attorney is in occupation of the suit property claiming to

be the tenant of the original defendants.

2. The hearing of the appeal was expedited and the appeal

was directed to be posted for hearing on 12.09.2001. It is

at that stage that one of the Hon'ble Judges constituting

the Division Bench received two separate envelopes - one

sent by Mr. Lok Nath Grover on a letterhead of Regency

Banquet Cum Restaurant and the other from one Mr.

Shyam Sunder of 23, Todar Mal Road, New Delhi. Mr.

Shyam Sunder did not claim any specific interest in the

property, but only stated that he was residing in the

locality where the property was located. These two letters

attempted to influence the course of judicial proceedings in

the appeal, which resulted in the Court taking suo moto

notice of criminal contempt. It was observed in the Order

dated 25.09.2001 that the action of these two persons

amounted to interference and obstruction in the

administration of justice. A further fact noticed was that

Mr. Lok Nath Grover had earlier been proceed with for

having committed contempt of court in Criminal Contempt

Petition No. 25/1998 titled 'Sports Authority of India v. Lok

Nath Grover'. However, on the contemnor tendering an

unqualified apology, the notice was subsequently

discharged. In view of these facts, a notice was issued to

show-cause as to why the said persons be not punished for

having committed contempt of Court in the present

matter.

3. The notice issued to Mr. Shyam Sunder came back un-

served as there was no property bearing No. 23, Todar Mal

Road, New Delhi. The then counsel appearing for the

respondent in appeal stated that as per his instructions,

there was no person by the name of 'Shyam Sunder'

residing in the vicinity of the property in question. Thus, it

clearly emerged that the letter allegedly sent by Mr.

Shyam Sunder was sent by a fictitious person.

4. The first and the sole contemnor remaining being Mr. Lok

Nath Grover entered appearance through counsel and filed

a short reply affirmed on 18.10.2001. In the process of

issuance of this notice, in fact, the hearing of the appeal

bearing RFA (OS) No. 19/2000 itself got derailed and the

matter was kept pending till both the appeal and the

present contempt petition were taken up for final hearing.

By a separate Order passed today, we have dismissed the

appeal with costs.

5. The letter dated 26/28.06.2001 sent by the contemnor is in

the following terms :-

"26th / 28th June, 2001

U.P.C.

Hon'ble Sir,

I am sorry to encroach upon your valuable time through this letter as I tried a

number of times to get an interview but failed. I want to bring to your kind notice the harassment caused to me by Shri R.K. Jain who does not allow me to live peacefully.

I shifted my family to 35 Babar Road in 1983 and also got the ration card for this place and my name also existed in the voting list after it was deleted from Rohtak Road where I was previously residing. I and my wife casted votes from Babar Road itself. However, there was every day a complaint to the Police against us by Shri R.K. Jain. My wife could not tolerate it and again shifted to Rohtak Road.

I have paid near about Rs.15 lakhs to Shri Devinder Singh Mehta and his family as rent but due to interference of Shri R.K. Jain, I could not reside peacefully.

RFA No. 19 of 2000 filed by me as Attorney Holder through Shri Sandeep Sethi, Advocate was admitted by your honour, after going through the record of the case and execution stayed on 17.8.2000.

Ever since 17.8.2000 Shri R.K. Jain is filing one or the other application in the Hon'ble Court to prove that I am using this property for commercial purpose which according to the High Court order, I cannot use nor I am using the same for this purpose.

So far as the payment of house tax is concerned, it is between me and the family of Shri Devinder Singh Mehta and Shri R.K. jain has no concern with the same. He has filed an application that so much house tax is payable to influence the mind of the Hon'ble Court.

Against the payment of Rs.4,90,000/- Shri R.K. Jain paid only Rs.30,000/- to Shri Devinder Singh Mehta which amount was also returned to Shri R.K. Jain through Demand Draft after the deal was cancelled. If the cancellation of the deal was not acceptable to Shri R.K. Jain, he should have returned the Demand Draft either to Shri Devinder Singh Mehta or to me as Attorney or could deposit the same with the Hon'ble Court, but he never did it. It clearly shows that he accepted the cancellation of the deal.

Shri R.K. Jain is trying to misguide the Hon'ble Court and, therefore, I have brought the above facts to your kind notice. If you feel necessary, you may make inquiry in this regard.

With highest regards.

Yours faithfully,

sd/-

28/6/2001 Lok Nath Grover"

6. The aforesaid letter shows that the contemnor claims to be

a tenant in the property and that he is prosecuting the

appeal against the decree as Attorney. There is a claim

made that the respondent is harassing the appellant by

making complaints about the nature of user of the

property. Thereafter, the letter proceeds to deal with the

controversy in appeal and asking the learned Judge to

make enquiries.

7. It has also come on record that the contemnor has been

involved in other litigations and is, thus, familiar with the

legal process. He has been running a banquet-cum-

restaurant at Talkatora Garden and for his previous

conduct was issued notice of criminal contempt which

notice was, however, discharged on his unconditional

apology.

8. In the reply affidavit filed, the contemnor has expressed

his unconditional apology for sending the letter and claims

to have the highest respect for the Hon'ble Judges and the

judicial system. He further claims to be keeping indifferent

health and that he never intended to interfere with the

administration of justice and regrets the letter written.

9. It need hardly be emphasized that a litigant cannot enter

into correspondence with any Hon'ble Judge much less a

Judge hearing the lis between the parties relating to the

concerned person. The said letter clearly sought to create

a prejudice against the respondents in the appeal seeking

to influence the learned Judge in deciding the appeal. It

clearly amounts to interference and obstruction in the

administration of justice and, thus, amounting to the

contempt of Court. The contemnor though claims to be

the Attorney of the appellants and is prosecuting the

appeal in that capacity, he has dual status of being an

alleged tenant in the property and is, thus, vitally

interested in the dispute personally.

10. The only aspect really to be examined is the question

of sentence in view of the conduct of the contemnor. The

contemnor undoubtedly has expressed his unqualified

apology. The fact, however, remains that by mere

tendering of an apology, the conduct of the contemnor

cannot be washed away. This is also not the sole incident

where the contemnor has been so involved in the

proceedings of this nature, as he was proceeded against

for contempt of court in Criminal Contempt Petition

No.25/1998 as noticed aforesaid. The contemnor is fully

aware of legal process. It appears that the respondent has

made it a habit of attempting to interfere with the course

of justice and, thus, pollute the stream of justice. Mere

advanced age cannot be the sole criterion for not

punishing the contemnor.

11. In view of the aforesaid, we, having given our deep

thought to the matter, are of the view that the contemnor

is guilty of the contempt of court and is sentenced to

undergo simple imprisonment for a period of seven (7)

days and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/-. In case the

contemnor does not deposit the fine of Rs.2,000/- within

fifteen (15) days from today, he shall undergo simple

imprisonment for a further period of seven (7) days.

12. The contempt petition is accordingly disposed of.

SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J.

March 06, 2009 SUDERSHAN KUMAR MISRA, J.

madan