JUDGMENT

Madan B. Lokur, J.

1. The Monitoring Committee appointed by this Court by judgment and order dated 16th February, 2006 M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (2006) 3 SCC 399 submitted Report No. 129 dated 18th September, 2018. It was stated in the Report that the Monitoring Committee had received information that the seal put by the Veterinary Services Department of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on a property in village Gokalpur, Shahadra, North Zone, Delhi had been broken/tampered with on 16.9.2018.

2. The Report of the Monitoring Committee contains the following information:

“On the directions of Director (VS), EDMC to take action against the illegal dairies at Gokalpur village, MTI was directed to thoroughly check the area and take sealing action against any illegal dairy running at Gokalpur. MTI inspected the area and found one illegal dairy being run at H. No. 46, Kh. 299, Village Gokalpur near Panchayat Ghar, Delhi-94 by Sh. Prem Singh s/o Sh. Mahaveer Singh. As police programme has already been booked for taking action in the area, therefore, the above illegal dairy was sealed by MTI and his staff on 14.09.2018. The report of sealing alongwith necessary photographs were sent to Director (VS), EDMC and sealing action was entered in the sealing Register at Sr. No. 123.

Yesterday on 16.09.2018 (Sunday), Digital Media reports showed that above seal has been broken by Sh. Manoj Tiwari, Hon’ble M.P. Similar reports were also printed in the print media and Hon’ble M.P. was shown in the action of breaking the seal of the premises.

First Information Report of the incident has been lodged by DD(VS) at PS-Gokalpuri against all responsible persons. Further Deputy Director (Veterinary Services), Shahdara (North) Zone has fixed a programme for re-sealing the above mentioned premises at 2.30 p.m. on 17.09.2018 and SHO, Gokalpuri has been requested to provide sufficient police force.”

3. A perusal of the Monitoring Committee’s Report indicates that on 14th September, 2018 an illegal dairy being run at H. No. 46 on Kh. 299 in village Gokalpur owned by Shri Prem Singh was sealed by the Milch Tax Inspector on the directions of the Director (Veterinary Services) of the EDMC. The seal was apparently broken or tampered with by Shri Manoj Tiwari, an elected Member of Parliament (MP) on 16th September, 2018 as reported in the digital media and the print media.

4. The Report further indicates that when the breaking/tampering of the seal came to the knowledge of the Veterinary Service Department, a First Information was lodged and the premises were re-sealed on 17th September, 2018.

5. On a reading of the Report, we got the impression that the sealing was carried out in consultation with the Monitoring Committee appointed by this Court in terms of the judgment and order dated 16th February, 2006. It appeared to us that Shri Manoj Tiwari had violated orders of this Court and interfered in the administration of justice which amounted to contempt of court. Accordingly on 19th September, 2018 we issued notice to Shri Manoj Tiwari directing his personal appearance on 25th September, 2018. On that date and subsequently on 1st October, 2018 and 12th October, 2018, Shri Manoj Tiwari was present in Court. He filed a reply and the Report was taken up for consideration. We finally heard the matter on 30th October, 2018.

6. In the meanwhile, on 8th October, 2018 the Monitoring Committee filed Report No. 131 in this Court in which it annexed an article from a leading national daily of 4th October, 2018. The article mentioned that soon after the hearing on 3rd October, 2018 Shri Manoj Tiwari alleged that the Monitoring Committee is running a sealing racket in connivance with corrupt officers.

7. Report No. 131 also placed on record a document issued by the Media Department of a national political party to which the MP belongs. The document adverted to the statement reportedly made by Shri Manoj Tiwari wherein he had alleged that the Monitoring