IMPORTANT POINT
Director of Pre-University, Education an authority created under a statute, not a Court.

Judgment :

Leave granted.

Appellant is before us, aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the order dated 31st May, 2007 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in CCC No.341 of 2006 and also the order dated 11th June, 2007.

Respondent No.1 was working as an Assistant Teacher in a school run by the appellant. In relation to his claim for promotion as a lecturer as he had obtained M.A. degree, he approached the school authorities. The management declined his request. Respondent No.1 then made a representation to the Deputy Director, Education who in turn asked the management to consider the case of the respondent No.1 for promotion. The Director, Pre-University, Education passed an order on 25th July, 2005 in his favour.

Appellant preferred an appeal before the appropriate authority which is still pending.

Respondent No.1, however, filed an application purported to be under Sections 11 & 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (for short the Act) before the Karnataka High Court praying, inter alia, for the following reliefs:

"WHEREFORE, the Complainant prays that this Honble Court be pleased to call for relevant records and initiate contempt proceedings against the respondents for disobedience of the order of the Director, P.U. Education made in Appeal PUAP-51/2005 dated 25.7.2005 as per Annexure-A and to pass any other appropriate and suitable orders as deemed fit by this Honble Court in the interest of justice and equity."

The said application was entertained by reason of the impugned judgment and furthermore charges have also been directed to be framed.

The short question which arises for consideration in this appeal is as to whether the Director of the Pre-University, Education is a Court within the meaning of the provisions of the Act or not.

Indisputably, the Director of Pre-University, Education is a statutory authority. Contempt has been defined in Section 2(a) of the Act to mean a civil contempt or criminal contempt. Indisputably, the contempt proceedings initiated by the first respondent before the High Court was civil in nature. Civil contempt has been defined in Section 2(b) of the Act to mean willful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court.

It is now well settled principle of law and having regard to the definition of the Court contained in various statutes like Code of Civil Procedure or the Evidence Act would mean a Tribunal, whose decision shall be final and/or would be entitled to take evidence in terms of the provisions of the Evidence Act. It is also well settled that although a Tribunal may exercise some of its powers in terms of the Code of Civil Procedure or Code of Criminal procedure and have all the trappings of a Court but still would not be treated as a Court. In Bharat Bank Ltd. v. Employees of the Bharat Bank Ltd. [AIR 1950 SC 188 : 1950 SCR 459] this court opined:-

"7. Now there can be no doubt that the Industrial Tribunal has, to use a well-known expression, "all the trappings of a court" and performs functions which cannot but be regarded as judicial. [...]

27.[...] There can be no doubt that to be a Court, the person or persons who constitute it must be entrusted with judicial functions, that is, of deciding litigated questions according to law. However, by agreement between parties arbitrators may be called upon to exercise judicial powers and to decide a dispute according to law but that would not make the arbitrators a Court. It appears to me that before a person or persons can be said to constitute a Court it must be held that they derive their powers from the State and are exercising the judicial powers of the State. In R. v. London County Council [[1931] 2 K.B. 215], Saville L.J. gave the following meaning to the word "Court" or "judicial authority”: -

‘It is not necessary that it should be a Court in the sense that this Court is a Court, it is enough if it is exercisi