Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
Section 12—Punishment for contempt of court—Appeals—High Court only directed that the process of recruitment be completed with a period of two months and appointment orders be issued to the successful candidates—Whether recruitment was to be concluded in pursuance of the earlier notification or by way of issuing a fresh notification, was not specified by the High Court—Such aspect of the matter was left to the discretions of appellants—In absence of a specific direction to the effect that recruitment be concluded in pursuance of earlier notification alone, the issuance of a fresh notification would not constitute contempt of court—Timeline for completion of recruitment as stipulated by the court, while the manner in which the recruitment was to be completed, was the prerogative of the appellants—There has been no “deliberate and willful” disobedience of the orders of the High Court—In fact, the appellants had also tendered unconditional apology on the premise of an alleged violation of the order of the High Court—High Court instead of considering the unconditional apology tendered by appellants sentenced them—Punishment imposed by High Court—Incorrect—Unconditional apology of appellants accepted and consequently sentence imposed on them is set aside—Appeals allowed.
[Paras 13 & 14]