JUDGMENT :

Ashutosh J. Shastri, J.

1. The present contempt proceedings has been initiated for alleged willful and deliberate disobedience of order dated 02.09.2020 as well as 05.10.2020 passed in Special Civil Application 10363 of 2020.

2. The premise on which the present contempt application is filed is that applicant herein is the original writ petitioner, whereas opponent no. 8 herein is original respondent nos. 2 and opponent nos. 9 to 14 herein are original respondent nos. 3, 4, 7 to 9 and 12 respectively in the main Special Civil Application. Opponent no. 1 is the Chairman and opponent nos. 2 to 6 are the members of the Gujarat State Wakf Board and opponent no. 7 is the Chief Executive official of the Wakf Board. The case of the applicant is that in contravention to the procedure under the Wakf Act and in violation of the statutory provisions, opponent no. 1 i.e. Gujarat State Wafk Board passed an order dated 03.07.2020 and as such, same was challenged on the grounds of jurisdiction as well as violation of principles of natural justice. The learned Single Judge in main Special Civil Application was pleased to issue notice on 02.09.2020, by making it returnable on 05.10.2020 and further was pleased to stay the implementation of the impugned order qua removal of the present applicant as Secretary, till the next date of hearing. It is the case of the applicant that said order though was passed, vide letter dated 08.09.2020, the applicant was informed about the proposed agenda for the meeting to be held on 13.09.2020. However, opponent nos. 8 to 14 deliberately did not remain present in the meeting on 13.09.2020 and in the presence of the committee members and other Members of the Trust/Wakf, Resolutions were passed and in response to it, on 18.11.2020, Shri Deen Mohammad Noor Mahammad Ruma - original respondent no. 11 submitted Change Report no. 602 of 2020 before the Wakf Board, which is pending till date. It is further asserted that on 03.10.2020, opponent nos. 8 to 14 filed Civil Application No. 1 of 2020 under Article 226 (3) of the Constitution of India for vacation of interim relief granted vide order dated 02.09.2020, in the pending petition. Subsequently, on 05.10.2020, the matter was heard, and thereafter opponent no. 1 through learned advocate, sought time to submit reply in the petition as well as to the draft amendment. It has been asserted by the applicant that the interim relief was unlimited and not restricted by virtue of an order dated 05.10.2020. Later on, the main matter was adjourned along with Civil Application from time to time and according to the applicant, request of opponent nos. 8 to 14 for vacating interim relief was not dealt with by the Court and thereby interim order granted on 02.09.2020 has been continued.

2.1. It is the case of the applicant that though opponents having full knowledge about the fact that by virtue of interim order the action against the applicant is not to be initiated, but still in connivance and with a mala fide intent, the applicant was directed to hand over the records within three days vide letter dated 25.11.2020. On 26.11.2020, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the applicant - original petitioner requested for some time on account of personal difficulty and accordingly main matter was adjourned and as such, it is the case of the applicant that though interim relief granted earlier is not vacated, the situation is tried to be altered by the opponents herein, namely the contemners and major changes have been affected to the detrimental of the applicant. So according to the applicant, opponents have tried to overreach the process of the Court and has deliberately willfully disobeyed the interim order granted in favour of the applicant so much so that later on, in defiance of the interim protection, Change Reports have been prepared and submitted in the month of January, 2021 whereby, name of the applicant as General Secretary came to be cancelled and also as a Trustee