A Commissioner appointed under the Public Servants (Inquiries) Act, 1850, is a court within the meaning of Sec. 3, Contempt of Courts Act, 1952, and is subordinate to the High Court.

Choudhary, J.

1. The opposite party in this proceeding is one Mr. Brijnandhan. Sinha, Deputy Secretary to Political and Appointment Department, Government of Bihar, Patna, who has been asked to show cause as to why he should not be proceeded with con-tempt of Court. The proceeding was started on an application being made by the petitioner, Mr. Jyoti Narayan, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, residing at present in mahalla Kadamkuan, one of the quarters of the town of Patna.

2. The petitioner is a member of the Bihar-Judicial Civil Service, Executive Branch. It appears that the State Government received reports about serious misconduct and corrupt practices of Mr. Narayan in the discharge of his official duties while he was a Sub-divisional Officer at Aurangabad & it was decided accordingly that an enquiry into the truth of the various charges against Mr. Narayan should be made under the provisions of the Public Servants (Inquiries) Act (No. 37) of 1950 (hereinafter to be referred to as the Act) and! Mr. Anjani Kumar Saran, who was then an Additional District and Sessions Judge of Gaya and is now a District and Sessions Judge of that place, was appointed Commissioner under the Act for making the inquiry. During the pendency of that inquiry, the opposite party wrote a confidential letter to the Commissioner on 26-12-1952, being D. O. No. 11/30 306/52A-11614, which runs as follows:

Dear Mr. Saran,

I am desired to refer to your memo no. 8286, dated 26-11-1952, and to say that

Government are anxious not to allow Mr. Jyoti Narayan to adopt dilatory

tactics and delay the progress of the inquiry against him. I am to request you

to be vigilant against such tactics adopted by Mr. Narayan.

Yours sincerely,

Sd. B.N. Sinha.

It is alleged that the Commissioner in answer to that letter replied by his D. O. letter No. 244, dated 5-1-1953, stating that he would not allow Mr. Narayan to adopt any dilatory tactics to delay the progress of the inquiry against him. On 2-2-1953, the petitioner filed a petition before the Commissioner stating, inter alia, that he had not been able to engage any lawyer or counsel for want of necessary papers and copies and prayed for an adjournment of the inquiry. He also prayed for starting a contempt of court proceeding against Mr. B. N. Sinha, but the Commissioner rejected his both the prayers, namely, the prayer for adjournment as well as that for starting a contempt proceeding. According to the petitioner the conduct of Mr. B. N. Sinha amounted to a private communication addressed to a court affecting the course of justice, and he had thereby committed contempt of court.

In these circumstances the petitioner filed an application to this Court for punishing, for contempt of court, the opposite party, Mr. B. N. Sinha, and two other persons against whom the application has been dismissed, and it is not necessary to refer here to the grounds on which the prayer for a proceeding for contempt of court as against those persons was made. A rule was issued only against Mr. B. N. Sinha.

3. According to Sec.3, Contempt of Courts Act (No. 32 of 1952), every High Court has and exercises the same jurisdiction, powers and authority in accordance with the same procedure and practice, in respect of contempts of courts subordinate to it as it has and exercises in respect of contempts of itself except such contempt which is punishable by that subordinate court as an offence under the Indian Penal Code. In order, therefore, that this Court should take cognizance of the contempt alleged in this case, it has to be determined as a preliminary point, as argued by the Advocate-General on behalf of the opposite party, whether a Commissioner appointed under the Act is a court, and, if so, is a court subordinate to the High Court.

Under the Act the Commissioner after the close of the inquiry is required forthwith to report to Government the proceeding under the commission, and to send with the record thereof his