Judgment

MUDHOLKAR, J. : The appellant who, at the relevant time, was Under Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Orrissa, has been admonished for contempt of court and directed to pay the costs of the proceedings before the High court of Orissa. The occasion for the institution of contempt proceedings against the appellant was the circulation of the view of the Legal Remembrancer and the Advocate General to the District Magistrates of the Northern Division of Orissa dated January 19, 1955, in which the following endorsement appears:

"I am directed to enclose copies of the opinions of the Legal Remembrancer and of the Advocate-General and to say that the Law Department are of opinion that no special authorization is necessary to empower Magistrates to take cognizance under S. 20 of the Cattle Trespass Act. This may be followed until the matter is carried to the High Court in some case, so that the confusion created by the Orissa High Court decision reported in Padma Charan v. Rangadhar Das, AIR 1951 Orissa 40 might be set at rest."

The endorsement bears the signature of the appellant.

2. After the attention of the High Court was drawn to the aforesaid endorsement it caused notices to be i