Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI
1 Delay condoned.
2 Leave granted.
3 A disciplinary proceeding was convened against the petitioner for alleged acts of
misconduct when he was posted as Officer Commanding B/30 Bn., CRPF. He was
removed from service in July 1995.
4 After the appeal against the order of punishment was rejected, the respondent
instituted proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution. For the purpose of
present discussion, it is not necessary to deal with all the intervening stages in
the proceedings.
5 By an order dated 24 December 2019, the Division Bench of the High Court of
Delhi directed that :
Gulshan Kumar Arora
16th October, 2018, passed by the DIG (CR&VIG) in the
Directorate General, CRPF, imposing the penalty of
removal from service on the Petitioner, is hereby set
aside. The minor penalty as decided by the DA viz.,
“reduction to a lower stage in the scale of pay by one
stage for a period not exceeding 3 years, without
cumulative effect and adversely affecting pension” will
be the penalty in the Petitioner’s case.
35 Consequently, the Petitioner is directed to be forthwith
reinstated in service, with all consequential benefits, but
without any back wages. The date of reinstatement will
relate back to the date of his having been originally
removed from service i.e. 10th July 1995, for the purposes
of pay fixation, seniority and all other consequential
benefits including promotions. The consequential orders
nby way of implementation of this judgment be issued
not later than 8 weeks from today.”
6 The respondent instituted contempt proceedings before the High Court of Delhi.
He was reinstated in service by an order dated 8 March 2021. The respondent
was promoted to the rank of Deputy Commandant on a notional post with effect
from 17 October 2021 by an order dated 22 March 2023. He superannuated
from service on 31 March 2023.
7 In the course of the hearing of the contempt proceedings, the Single Judge in an
order dated 2 June 2023, noted the submission of the respondent that even if
the date of implementation of the minor penalty was from 16 October 2018, he
would be entitled to all promotions till the rank of IG from 2021 till the date of his
retirement on 31 March 2021. This emerges from paragraph 38 of the judgment
of the Single Judge, which is in the following terms:
“38 The Petitioner in his written submissions dated 02.03.2023
had stated that even if the date of implementation of minor
penalty is considered to take effect from 16.10.2018, he
would be entitled to all promotions till the rank of IG from
the year 2021, till his date of retirement, i.e. on 31.03.2023.
The learned counsel for the Petitioner had relied upon the
said submission during the course of hearing dated
03.03.2023 and submitted that the Petitioner would be
satisfied if he is granted the rank of IG as on the date of his
retirement.:
8 After recording the above submission, the Single Judge proceeded to hold that
there was a willful disobedience of the directions which were issued by the
Division Bench with respect to pay fixation, seniority and all other consequential
benefits including promotion. The finding in that regard is contained in
paragraph 39 of the judgment of the Single Judge, which reads as follows :
“39 This Court is, therefore, of the opinion that there is willful
disobedience by the Respondent(s) of the directions issued
by the Division Bench with respect to the implementation of
the directions issued at paragraph 35 of the judgment dated
24.12.2019 with respect to pay fixation, seniority and all
other consequential benefits including promotion.”
9 Thereafter, the Single Judge held the Inspector General of Police (Personnel) and
DIG (Personnel) who held office as on 22 March 2023 guilty of contempt of court
for willful disobedience of the directions contained in the judgment of the
Division Bench dated 24 December 2019. The Single Judge granted an
opportunity to the appellants herein in the following terms :
“41 This Court, however, grants an opportunity of six (6)
weeks to the aforesaid Contemnors to issue a fresh order
granting promotion to the Petitioner to the rank of IG to
bring him at par with his immediate junior as per the
merit cum seniority list at the time of the appointment.”
10 It was observed that in case the contemnors did not issue appropriate orders
granting promotion to the respondent to the rank of IG within the time granted,
the case would he heard for sentencing on the next date of hearing.
11 A Letters Patent Appeal was filed before the Division Bench against the order of
the Single Judge dated 2 June 2023. The Division Bench, however, rejected the
Letters Patent Appeal as not being maintainable on the ground that an appeal
under Section 19 of the Contempt of Courts Act would not be maintainable since
no punishment had been imposed by the Single Judge and the observations
made by the Single Judge were not to be construed as crystallizing any right in
favour of the respondent. On this understanding, the Division Bench has
observed as follows :
“52 He submitted that if the observations made by the Court
in the impugned judgment are not construed as
crystalising any rights in favour of the respondent and
are only read as confined to the question whether the
appellants have committed any willful disobedience of
the order of the Court, the appellants would be satisfied.
53 In view of our understanding of the impugned judgment
as noted above, the learned Single Judge has not decided
any dispute regarding the rights and obligations of the
parties other than whether the appellants had committed
contempt of court. All observations made by the learned
Single Judge must be read only for the purposes of
determining whether the appellants had willfully violated
the judgment dated 24.12.2019 issued by this Court.”
12 The narrow issue which falls for consideration at the present stage is as to
whether the Letters Patent Appeal against the order of the Single Judge dated 2
June 2023 was maintainable.
13 The law on the subject is settled by a judgment of a two Judge Bench of this
Court in Midnapore Peoples' Coop. Bank Ltd. and Others v. Chunilal
Nanda and Others1. Paragraph 11 of the decision sums up the principles
succinctly as follows :
“11. The position emerging from these decisions, in regard to
appeals against orders in contempt proceedings may be
summarised thus:
I. An appeal under Section 19 is maintainable only
against an order or decision of the High Court
passed in exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for
1 (2006) 5 SCC 299
contempt, that is, an order imposing punishment
for contempt.
II. Neither an order declining to initiate proceedings
for contempt, nor an order initiating proceedings
for contempt nor an order dropping the
proceedings for contempt nor an order acquitting
or exonerating the contemnor, is appealable under
Section 19 of the CC Act. In special circumstances,
they may be open to challenge under Article 136 of
the Constitution.
III. In a proceeding for contempt, the High Court can
decide whether any contempt of court has been
committed, and if so, what should be the
punishment and matters incidental thereto. In such
a proceeding, it is not appropriate to adjudicate or
decide any issue relating to the merits of the
dispute between the parties.
IV. Any direction issued or decision made by the High
Court on the merits of a dispute between the
parties, will not be in the exercise of “jurisdiction to
punish for contempt” and, therefore, not
appealable under Section 19 of the CC Act. The
only exception is where such direction or decision is
incidental to or inextricably connected with the
order punishing for contempt, in which event the
appeal under Section 19 of the Act, can also
encompass the incidental or inextricably connected
directions.
V. If the High Court, for whatsoever reason, decides
an issue or makes any direction, relating to the
merits of the dispute between the parties, in a
contempt proceedings, the aggrieved person is not
without remedy. Such an order is open to challenge
in an intra-court appeal (if the order was of a
learned Single Judge and there is a provision for an
intra-court appeal), or by seeking special leave to
appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution of India
(in other cases).
The first point is answered accordingly.”
14 Following the decision in Midnapore Peoples' Coop. Bank Ltd., it is a settled
principle that an appeal under Section 19 lies only against an order imposing
punishment for contempt.
15 In the order dated 2 June 2023, it has been held that the respondents before the
Court, namely, the appellants to these proceedings are guilty of contempt. A
Letters Patent Appeal would not be maintainable under Section 19, if the matter
were to only rest there. However, from the extracts which have been
reproduced in the earlier part of this judgment, it is evident that the Single
Judge:
(i) Recorded the submission of the respondent herein (as set out in the
written submissions dated 2 March 2023) that even if the implementation
of the minor penalty was to take effect from 16 October 2018, he would
be entitled to all promotions till the rank of IG from 2021 till the date of
his retirement on 31 March 2023; and
(ii) Held that there was willful disobedience of the directions issued by the
Division Bench on 24 December 2019 with respect to pay fixation,
seniority and all other consequential benefits including promotion.
16 The Single Judge, after recording the submissions as adverted to above, entered
a specific finding in paragraph 39 that “this court is therefore, of the opinion that
there is willful disobedience” (emphasis supplied). The above finding follows
immediately upon the previous paragraph of the order which records the
contention of the respondent herein that he was entitled to promotion to the
rank of IG, in any event with effect from 2021.
17 Bearing in mind the above finding, the Single Judge gave an opportunity to the
appellants “to issue a fresh order granting promotion to the petitioner to the
rank of IG” to bring him at par with his immediate junior. Reading the entirety of
the order of the Single Judge, it is clear that besides holding that the appellants
(who we the respondents before the Single Judge) were guilty of contempt of
court, there is a crystallized finding that the respondent herein was entitled to
promotion as IG, in any event with effect from 2021.
18 The Division Bench has lost sight of this aspect. The Division Bench, in
paragraph 52, noted the submission of the respondent that the judgment of the
Single Judge should not be construed as crystallizing any right in favour of the
respondent and should only be confined to the question as to whether the
appellants herein had committed a willful disobedience of the order of the
Division Bench dated 24 December 2019. The Division Bench accepted this
submission and observed that “in view of our understanding of the impugned
judgment, as noted above, the learned Single Judge has not decided any dispute
regarding the rights and obligations of the parties” other than adjudicating on
the issue of contempt. The judgment of the Division Bench lost sight of the fact
that whether the appeal was maintainable would have to be construed on a plain
reading of the judgment of the Single Judge. Two aspects were covered by the
judgment of the Single Judge :
Firstly, a finding that the appellants were guilty of contempt of the order dated
24 December 2019; and
Secondly, that the respondent was entitled to promotion to the rank of IG.
The first aspect is not amenable to an appeal under Section 19 at the present
stage. The finding that the respondent was entitled to promotion to the rank of
IG would be amenable to an appeal in terms of the law laid down by this Court in
Midnapore Peoples' Coop. Bank Ltd. (supra), more particularly in paragraph
11(V) which has been extracted above.
19 For the above reasons, we set aside the impugned judgment and order of the
Division Bench dated 10 May 2024 and restore Letters Patent Appeal 157 of
2024 in Contempt Case No 198 of 2020 together with the associated
interlocutory applications to the file of the Division Bench for consideration on
merits in terms of the above directions.
20 Mr Sanjay Ghosh, senior counsel appearing for the respondent states that no
coercive steps would be taken against the appellants till the next date of listing
before the High Court of Delhi.
21 All the contentions of the parties on the merits of the Letters Patent Appeal are
kept open.
22 The Delhi High Court may consistent with the exigencies of work, take up the
Letters Patent Appeal for expeditious disposal.
23 The Appeals are accordingly allowed in the above terms.
24 Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
[Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud]
[J B Pardiwala]
[Manoj Misra]
New Delhi; July 29, 2024 GKA