important point
Though, perhaps, no contempt could be made out in absence of any undertaking; Court’s direction had to be complied with.

JUDGMENT

G.P. Mathur, J.—

1.This petition has been filed by the landlord Santanu Chaudhuri for initiating contempt proceedings against the tenant Subir Ghosh.

2. The petitioner Santanu Chaudhuri filed a suit for eviction against Subir Ghosh in the Court of Civil Judge (Sr. Divn.), 9th Court, Alipore, which was dismissed. The appeal filed by the petitioner was allowed by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court and a decree for eviction was passed against the respondent Subir Ghosh (tenant) on 25.8.2005. Subir Ghosh then filed Special Leave Petition (Civil) No.21766 of 2005 in this Court. The petitioner Santanu Chaudhuri (landlord) also put in appearance on Caveat. The special leave petition was dismissed on 13.2.2006 and the following order was passed :

“The special leave petition is dismissed. Counsel for the petitioner prays for six months’ time to vacate the premises. Counsel for respondent present on caveat is agreeable to the same. Accordingly, the petitioner is granted time to vacate the suit premises by 31st August, 2006 subject to filing the usual affidavit by way of undertaking within two weeks from today. An advance copy of the affidavit will be supplied to the counsel for the respondent.”

3.The present contempt petition has been filed on the ground that the time granted by this Court to vacate the premises expired on 31st August, 2006, but the tenant has not yet vacated the premises. Notice was issued on the contempt petition on 5.1.2007. Subir Ghosh (tenant) has filed a counter affidavit in reply to the contempt petition and the main ground taken therein is that he did not file any affidavit or undertaking as was directed in the order dated 13.2.2006 and in absence of any undertaking having been filed, it cannot be said that disobedience of any order of this Court has been committed. It has been further submitted that as no affidavit or undertaking had been filed, it was open to the landlord to execute the decree forthwith and there is no occasion for initiating contempt proceedings against him.

4.Shri Mukul Rohatgi, learned senior counsel for the tenant Subir Ghosh has placed strong reliance on Rita Markandey v. Surjit Singh Arora,1 (1996) 6 SCC 14 in support of his submission that no contempt has been committed by his client. In the said case it was held as under:

“If any party gives an undertaking to the Court to vacate the premises from which he is liable to be evicted under the orders of the Court and there is a clear and deliberate breach thereof it amounts to civil contempt but since, in the present case, the respondent did not file any undertaking as envisaged in the order of the Supreme Court, the question of his being punished for breach thereof does not arise. However, even in a case where no such undertaking is given, a party to a litigation may be held liable for such contempt if the Court is induced to sanction a particular course of action or inaction on the basis of the representation of such a party and the Court ultimately finds that the party never intended to act on such representation or such representation was false. In other words, if on the representation of the respondent herein the Court was persuaded to pass the order extending the time for vacation of the suit premises, he may be held guilty of contempt of court, notwithstanding non-furnishing of the undertaking, if it is found that the representation was false and the respondent never intended to act upon it. However, the respondent herein cannot be held liable for contempt on this score also for the order in question clearly indicates that it was passed on the basis of the agreement between the parties and not on the representation of the respondent made before the Court. It was the petitioner who agreed to the unconditional extension of time by four weeks for the respondent to vacate and subsequent extension of time on his giving an undertaking and the Court only embodied the terms of the agreement so arrived at, in the order. Therefor