Private disputes do not amount to criminal contempt unless they scandalize the court, interfere with judicial proceedings, or obstruct the administration of justice.

( 1 ) LT. Col. Joginder Singh (Retd.) petitioner has invoked the jurisdiction of this court with respect to article 215 of the Constitution of India and Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. He seeks proceedings for criminal contempt of court to be initiated against the respondents.

( 2 ) RESPONDENT no. 3, Gurcharan Singh Chopra, is the deceased) is the main person against whom the assertions to be REFERRED TO to herein have been made while respondent no. 2 is the wife of respondent no. 1.

( 3 ) THE sum and substance of the assertions made by the petitioner as cajoled from the petition are that respondent no. 3 has sold the property illegally to respondent no. 1 and the decree so passed even is not valid. As against respondents 1 and 2 it had been pleaded that respondent no. 1 has given his wrong name at one place he mentions his name as Prithvi Raj and other documents he described as Prithvi Raj Choudhry he also contends that mutation that has been effected in favour of respondent no. 1 with respect to the property (portion 2/11 East Patel Nagar, New Delhi) is illegal because respondent no. 1 has used his official position. Plea has also been raised that respondent no. 1 as an officer of the Income Tax Department has committed certain illegal acts, the vigilance commission has not absolved him from the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and has committed criminal misconduct. A supplementary lease deed is supposed to have been executed in pursuance of the mutation which is alleged to be illegal. Allegations have been made that he defrauded this court when order of 1/03/1985 was passed and has manipulated the will. On all these counts it is claimed that respondent no. 1 should be dealt with strictly for committing contempt of court.

( 4 ) IN Crl. M. 1111/2000 it is alleged that respondent no. 1 has forged the copy of the compromise and decree has been obtained by fraud. In Crl. M 1107/2000 as against respondent no. 2 it is asserted that she has described herself sometimes as wife of prithvi Raj and earlier as wife of Prithvi Raj choudhry and therefore she has committed contempt of court. It has also been pleaded (Crl. M 1/2002) that the single Judge of this court had been misled and a compromise that have been arrived at is not a legal document.

( 5 ) NEEDLESS to state that the petition has been contested.

( 6 ) AT the outset we deem it necessary to mention that in the petition REFERRED TO to above large number of facts have been mentioned which are not even relevant to be taken care of. Petitioner appeared in person. On 15th January, 2002 the petitioner had prayed for an adjournment to seek legal opinion whether allegations made in this petition constituted any criminal contempt and whether it would survive after the death january, 2002 but he did not show any inclination of withdrawing the petition nor rendered any help to the court vis-a-vis the assertions made by him. He made his submissions regarding the facts pleaded.

( 7 ) THE petitioner who appeared in person highlighted the fact as already REFERRED TO to above about the conduct of respondents 1 and 2 with respect to giving the name sometimes as Prithvi Raj or at prithvi Raj Chopra and his activities when he was in service in the Income Tax Deptt and using his influence in getting the mutation effected.

( 8 ) WE know from the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Hargovind Dayal Srivastava and Anr. vs. G N Verma and Ors. 1977 Crl. L. J. 1003 that there is a difference between a criminal contempt and contumacious conduct. Contumacious conduct pertains to the conduct of a party which is not a criminal contempt but otherwise is a deplorable. Criminal contempt necessarily has to be seen as defined under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Section 2 (c) defines Criminal Contempt in following words :-

"2 (C) "criminal contempt" means the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or othe