IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
J.A. Patil, J.
Re. Siddharth Srivastava .... Judgment Debtor.
Ex parte
K.K. Modi Investment Financial Service Pvt. Ltd..... Petioning Creditor.
Insolvency Petition No. 1 of 2001, decided on 27-3/4-4-2002.
Advocates appeared :
Milind Vasudeo with Ms. Swapnila D. Rane i/b. Ashwin Ankhad, for petitioning creditor.
K.R. Bulchandani with Subhash Jha, J.P. Shah Ms. L.K. Bulchandani, for debtor.
Section 2(14) -Contempt of Court Act, 1971, Section 2 (b) -Contempt proceedings -Consent term incorporated in the final order, passed in contempt petition does not amount to a decision within the meaning of term order in Section 2(14). Therefore, such final order cannot be termed as order within the meaning of Section 2 (14). Once contempt petition is admitted the petitioner will have no effective role to play. If in such proceedings the parties file certain consent terms they do not form part of final order which is contemplated in contempt proceedings. Therefore, said consent terms cannot be taken as part of final order of the Court
CONTEMPT OF COURTS ACT, 1986
Sections 2 (b) and 12- Civil Procedure Code, 1908, Section 2 (2) and (14) read with Order 7 Rule 1- Contempt Jurisdiction- Petition for contempt of Court is not a plaint nor a suit, therefore the final order on such application could not be termed as decree. The contempt alleged to be a contempt of civil nature but by exercising jurisdiction to deal with alleged contempt the Court does not become Civil Court within the meaning of Section 2 (2) and 2 (14) C.P.C.
2. The petitioning creditor had invested a sum of Rs. 5 crores by way of equity investment with the Asia Television Network Ltd. (for short 'ATN') under a memorandum of agreement dated 21-3-1996. The judgment debtor was at all material times and is the Chairman and Managing Director of the said ATN. It appears that certain disputes arose between the parties in connection with the memorandum of agreement and therefore, the petitioning creditor filed an Arbitration Petition No. 34/1997 under section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1997 (for short the Act, 1997). In that proceeding, the parties arrived at a settlement and filed consent terms dated 7-8-1997. Accordingly, the Award in terms of the said consent terms came to be passed on 5-9-1997. According to the petitioners under the provisions of the Act, 1996, the Award has the force of the decree and hence a decree in terms of the said Award came into existence. It may be pointed out that under the consent terms, the judgment debtor acknowledged his liability to pay to the petitioning creditor a sum of Rs. 6.60 crores in instalments beginning from 15-9-1997. It is stated that accordingly, the 'ATN' initially paid a sum of Rs. 45 lakhs towards the instalment as agreed upon in the consent terms but thereafter there were no payments forthcoming from the judgment debtor. According to the petitioning creditor under the said Award/decree, the judgment debtor was jointly and severally liable along with the 'ATN' to pay the dues. Since the judgment debtor made defaults in payment of the instalments, the petitioning creditor filed Contempt Petition No. 9/98 which came to be admitted on 26-2-1998. During the pendency of the said contempt petition, the petitioning creditor also filed Execution Application No. 58/1998 and by warrant of attachment got attached the movable properties of the judgment debtor along with the properties of the 'ATN'. In the said contempt petition, the parties arrived at settlement and filed their consent terms dated 9-12-1998. In view of the consent terms, the contempt petition came to be disposed of in terms of the said consent terms. By the consent terms the petitioning creditor agreed to accept a reduced amount than what was stated in the earlier consent terms, provided the judgment debtor adhered to the payment schedule set out thereunder. The consent terms further provided that in case of any default by the judgment debtor, the petitioning creditor would be entitled to recover the full amount as stipulated in the consent terms.
3. The petitioning creditor has alleged that in the meantime, the judgment debtor started a new channel i.e. 'ATN', which was in contravention of the order passed by this Court. The petitioning creditor, therefore, filed a second Contempt Petition bearing No. 119/1998 against the judgment debtor. The said petition was admitted on 24-2-1999. The petitioning creditor has further alleged that the judgment debtor once again committed breach of the consent terms dated 9-12-1998 as he failed to make payment as per the schedule. The petitioning creditor, therefore, took out Notice of Motion No. 1798/1999 and applied for appointment of a Court receiver in respect of the properties of the judgment debtor as well as the ATN. The said notice of motion was made absolute in terms of the prayer Clauses (a) (b) therein on 8-6-1999 and the Court Receiver, High Court, came to be appointed as the Receiver. It appears that the judgment debtor preferred an appeal against the said order. However, the Division Bench, dismissed the same on 14-9-1999 but substituted the official liquida
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