SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
S. RATNAVEL PANDIAN AND K. JAYACHANDRA REDDY, JJ.
STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS
VERSUS
CH. BHAJAN LAL AND ANOTHER, RESPONDENTS V.SHRI S.A. KHAN, APPLICANT. STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS, APPELLANTS V. CH. BHAJAN LAL AND ANOTHER, RESPONDENTS V. SHRI S.A. KHAN, APPLICANT.
Contempt Petn. No. 7 of 1989 with I.A. Nos. 1 and 2 in Civil Appeal No. 5412 of 1990,
Decided on : 18-12-1992.
Prevention of Corruption Act of 1947 - Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 78(2) - Section 5A(l) - Sections 161 and 165 - Section 5(2) - Constitution of India - Articles 226 and 227 - contempt of Court - Even before giving brief facts which have given rise to filing of this Contempt Petition - We would like to mention that a confusion is created in contempt proceeding, by wrongly mentioning it as Contempt Petition No instead of I.A. No. in all follow up affiliated proceedings. No is number assigned to Civil Miscellaneous Petition filed in which was subsequently registered as Civil Appeal No - Said CMP No. was filed by State of Haryana and others praying for deletion of name of Ch. Devi Lal, Chief Minister of Haryana from array of parties and dispensation of filing of a formal affidavit in support of that application - It was not at all a Contempt Petition - It transpires from original records that I.A. No. 1/91 dated has been filed in Civil Appeal No. for awarding adequate punishment to respondent for committing aggravated contempt of Court - In affidavit filed accompanying petition also it is mentioned as I.A. No in Civil Appeal No but in main petition containing averments, it has been wrongly mentioned as Contempt Petition No in Civil Appeal No - mentioning of number to Contempt Petition is patently wrong –Held, A perusal of news item does not spell out any reference to case of corruption or its proceeding pending before this Court - In alleged contemptuous statement Annexure only view of reporter is mentioned as if Ch. Bhajan Lal had perhaps been provoked about proceedings of case before Supreme Court - In fact, Civil Appeal No itself has been disposed of filed in above main civil appeal after its disposal, even though Contempt Petition No has been filed before disposal of case - Be that as it may, as we do not see any reason much less compelling reasons to issue suo motu notice to Ch. Bhajan Lal for contempt of Court for reasons mentioned above, as Court feel that this petition is liable – Appeal Dismissed.
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JUDGEMENT
S. Ratnavel Pandian, J.:- Contempt Petition No. 7 of 1989 is filed by Shri S. A. Khan, DIG of Police requesting the Court to initiate suo motu proceeding for criminal contempt allegedly committed by the respondent/ contemner, Ch. Bhajan Lal and to issue notice for the same and punish him adequately.
2. I.A.No.1/91inC.A.No.5412/90 was filed by the applicant Shri S. A. Khan for the following prayers:
"(1) award adequate punishment to the respondent Shri Bhajan Lal for committing aggravated contempt of the Authority of this Hon'ble Court by seeking to punish the petitioner (applicant) for assisting the Court through the advocates appearing for the State of Haryana;
(2) set aside the order of suspension of the applicant herein; and also
(3) pass such other and further order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper." 3. I.A.No.2/91inC.A.No.5412/90was filed by the applicant Shri S. A. Khan seeking the following prayers:
"(a) set aside the suspension order dated 5-7-91 and fix an early date of hearing of the contempt application No. 2743 of 1989 and the application for direction filed by the applicant earlier.
(b) pass such other order or orders as are deemed fit and proper in the circumstances of the case for which act the petitioner most respectfully prays this Hon'ble Court."
4. I.A. Nos. 1 and 2 were filed on 12-8-1991 and 21-8-1991 respectively. It may be noted that the Contempt Petition No. 7/89 filed in September 1989 in S.L.P. (C) No. 14014/88.
5. Even before giving the brief facts which have given rise to the filing of this Contempt Petition. We would like to mention that a confusion is created in the contempt proceeding, by wrongly mentioning it as 'Contempt Petition No. 2743/89' instead of I.A. No. 1/91 in all the follow up affiliated proceedings. 'No. 2743/89' is the number assigned to the Civil Miscellaneous Petition filed in S.L.P. (C) No.. 14014/88 which was subsequently registered as Civil Appeal No. 5412/90. The said CMP No. 2743/ 89 was filed by the State of Haryana and others praying for the deletion of the name of Ch. Devi Lal, Chief Minister of Haryana from the array of parties and dispensation of the filing of a formal affidavit in support of that application. It was not at all a Contempt Petition. It transpires from the original records that I.A. No. 1/91 dated 12-8-91 has been filed in Civil Appeal No. 5412/90 for awarding adequate punishment to the respondent for committing aggravated contempt of Court. In the affidavit filed accompanying the petition also it is mentioned as I.A. No. 1/91 in Civil Appeal No. 5412/90, but in the main petition containing the averments, it has been wrongly mentioned as Contempt Petition No. 2743/89 in Civil Appeal No. 5412/ 90. The mentioning of the number 2743/89' to the Contempt Petition is patently wrong. Unfortunately, this mistake has been carried out throughout the subsequent proceedings, namely, in the counter-affidavit, the reply-affidavit, the rejoinder and so on. Even at the threshold when we wanted to have a clarification as to how two Contempt Petitions, namely, Contempt Petition 'No. 2743/ 89' (sic) I.A. No. 1/89 and Contempt Petition No. 7/89 have happened to be filed, no satisfactory explanation has been offered and the puzzle remained unanswered. It may be pointed out that I.A. Nos. 1/ 91 and 2/91 were filed in Civil Appeal No. 5412/90 praying, (1) for initiating contempt proceedings against Ch. Bhajan Lal; and (2) for setting aside the suspension order dated 5-7-1991 passed as against Shri S. A. Khan respectively. But in both the applications, the facts and the prayers are-inextricably mixed up. Therefore, we have culled out the facts with some difficulty by separating them and then have narrated the averments with reference to each proceeding.
6. On 12-11-1987 one Dharam Pal presented a complaint before Ch. Devi Lal, who was then Chief Minister of Haryana making serious allegations against Ch. Bhajan Lal who was then the Union Minister for Enviro
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