IMPORTANT POINT
Partial compliance amounts to willful disobedience. :

ORDER

V.GOPALA GOWDA, J.

The above said group of contempt petitions are filed by the complainant-petitioners requesting this Court to initiate the contempt proceedings against the respondents for their alleged disobedience in not complying with the direction issued by this Court in the judgment dated 23.04.2014 passed in Civil Appeal No.4809 of 2014 along with other batch of Civil Appeals, the operative portion of the order passed in the above Appeals reads thus:

“…We accordingly direct the appellants to implement the orders of the Division Bench of the High Court thereby continuing the respondents in their services and extend all benefits as have been granted by it in the impugned judgment.”

2. Contempt Petition No. 350 of 2014 in C.A. No. 4809 of 2014 was first taken up on 11.8.2014, when this Court ordered the issuance of notice. Subsequently, the other connected contempt petitions were also listed along with the main contempt petition No.421 of 2014 in C.A. No. 4831 of 2014. The respondents appeared through their counsel who sought time to comply with the order and filed their counter affidavit.

3. Vide letter No. R.C. D-01-CC-12/2011/7030(S), the Government of Jharkhand, Road Construction Department, issued a Notification dated 15.09.2014 to one of the complainants, the relevant portion of which reads thus:

“In compliance of the order dated 23.04.2014 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 4809 of 2014 @ SLP (C)No. 266 of 2012, State of Jharkhand & Ors. Vs. Kamal Prasad & Ors., the cabinet’s sanction has been obtained in the meeting dated 11.09.2014 and vide departmental resolution No. 6977 (S) WE, dated 15.09.2014, services of Shri Paras Kumar as Assistant Engineer on ad-hoc basis, are hereby regularised from his date of joining i.e. 27.06.1987.

By order of Governor of Jharkhand

Sd/-

Principal Secretary to the Government

15.09.2014

Similar notifications were also issued to all the other complainants.

4. The complainants, on being aggrieved by the partial compliance of the judgment and order of this Court dated 23.4.2014, have filed these contempt petitions and produced the Notifications sent by the respondents along with the affidavits. Mr. J.P. Cama, the learned senior counsel on behalf of the complainants, has submitted that the respondents have not fully complied with the judgment and order of this Court dated 23.04.2014 and therefore, they have wilfully disobeyed the order, which warrants further proceedings against them. We have heard him as well as Mr.P.P. Rao, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents.

5. The learned senior counsel on behalf of the complainants has invited our attention to the averments made in the writ petitions filed by the complainants before the High Court of Jharkhand along with the prayer made by them under clause ‘C’ of the writ petition No. 2087 of 2010, wherein the complainants have prayed before the High Court for the regularisation of their services on the said posts in terms with the conscious policy decision taken by the Notification No. 10113(s) dated 11.09.2009 by the Cadre Controlling State of Bihar. The contents of the same read thus:

“(C) Further for direction upon the respondents to treat the petitioners equally to that of similarly situated 120 persons appointed along with the petitioners who fortuously remained working in the territory of successor State of Bihar w.e.f. 15.11.2000 and are still working without any disturbance and accordingly to consider the petitioners for regularization along with them in terms with the conscious policy decision taken vide notification no. 10113 (s) dated 11.09.2009 by the Cadre Controlling State of Bihar and in pursuance thereof, the petitioners have also applied for the same and which is in active considerations.”

6. He has further placed strong reliance upon the judgment and order of the learned single Judge as well as the Division Bench of the High Court in support of his contention that the regularisation of the ser