Hon'ble THANVI, J.—This protracted Contempt Petition filed long back in June, 1998, captioned as "Criminal Contempt", under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, hereinafter referred to as "the Act", is still under adjudication as to whether disobedience of the order of this Court dt. 23.6.98 passed at 4.30 PM by the Vacation Judge of this Court at his residence in S.B. Cr. Misc. Stay Petition No. 340/98 (Misc. Petition No. 478/1998), amounts to Civil or Criminal Contempt.

2. Before narrating the brief facts as alleged in the Contempt Petition filed on 25.6.98, it is apparent from the body of Contempt Petition that it was titled as S.B. Criminal Contempt Petition but on 5.4.1999, when the case came up before the learned Single Judge, learned Addl. Advocate General raised an objection that the caption of the petition is "Criminal Contempt", therefore, the matter should be heard only by the Division Bench. At this point, learned counsel for the petitioner stated that it is a "Civil Contempt" and due to misconception, it has been stated as "Criminal Contempt". In view of the above arguments, the learned Single Judge deferred the matter for two days to first decide as to whether it

Click Here to Read the rest of this document