JUDGMENT :

Subrata Talukdar, J.

1. This Court has been called upon to decide the above noted contempt application being CPAN 1184 of 2022 arising out of the Judgement and Order dated 11th of March, 2022 passed in the appeal being MAT 287 of 2021 with IA No. CAN 1 of 2021, in the matter of Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata and Another vs. Hindustan Steel Works Construction Limited and Others.

2. The alleged contemnors, being the officers of The Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata as well as other officers involved with the management of the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) which operates under the said Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata (for short, referred to as KoPT), were bound by the said Judgement and Order dated 11th of March, 2022, inter alia, to act as follows:-

“It is therefore a fact that pending resolution of the dispute between the parties, the interim arrangement for installation, operation and maintenance of the weighbridges in issue were permitted to be continued by the Hon'ble Single Bench and the Hon'ble Division Bench having regard to the public interest involved in handling large volumes of the port traffic vide Orders dated 15th of May 2020 and 2nd of June 2020 (supra) and, such directions were not interfered with by the Hon'ble Apex Court.

In the above view of the matter the interim arrangement as directed by the Hon'ble Division Bench vide Order dated 2nd June, 2020 in terms of Clause 7.10 Sub-Clause (b) of the Contract shall continue. It will be open to the Arbitral Tribunal to modify the interim order in the event any change in circumstances is brought to its notice by the parties.

M.A.T. 287 of 2021 with I.A. No. CAN 1 of 2021 stand accordingly disposed of.”

3. Although a prayer for stay was subsequently made by Learned Counsel appearing for the KoPT to stay the part of the Judgement and Order pertaining to the interim arrangement (supra), such prayer for stay stood refused.

4. On behalf of the applicants in CPAN 1184 of 2022, it is submitted that upon the failure of KoPT to comply with the direction of the Hon’ble Division Bench (supra), by a Contempt Notice dated 20th October, 2022, it was alleged that steps will be taken before the Hon’ble Court in the event there is further non-compliance of the solemn Order dated 11th of March, 2022 (supra).

5. The Notice of Contempt further, inter alia, stated as follows:-

“(a) The setting aside of the Termination Order and Show Cause Notice by the Single Bench in W.P. 4795 of 2020 has not been interfered with by the Division Bench.

Only partial setting aside of the Judgement pertaining to "Whether it is Assignment of Contract or Assignment of Services" will be determined by the Arbitral Tribunal.

(b) The Division Bench has made the implementation of Clause 7.10 (b) mandatory in nature by stating the clause 7.10 (b) SHALL CONTINUE in public interest and can be modified by the Arbitral Tribunal.

(c) The Division Bench in MAT 443 of 2020 last para on Page 7 states “Clause 7.10 (b) was in fact invoked by KoPT while terminating the contract vide letter dated 01.01.2020. Purport and intent of the aforesaid clause in the contract is to maintain smooth functioning of port services particularly availability of weighbridges to port users for sometime notwithstanding unilateral termination by KoPT. This aspect of the matter particularly the necessity or continuation of smooth functioning of port services must be borne in mind pending adjudication of disputes between the parties .......... Consequentially order dated 27th April, 2020 is also stayed.”

6. Soon after receipt of the Notice of Contempt dated 20th October, 2022, KoPT filed an application, being CAN 2 of 2022, on the 4th of November, 2022. By the said application the following prayer was made.

“(a) Modification and/or clarification of the judgment and order dated 11 March 2022 passed by the Hon'ble Justice Subrata Talukdar and the Hon'ble Kesang Doma Bhutia in M.A.T. 287 of 2021 with C.A.N. No. 1 of 2021 [The Board