JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: Contempt Petition filed Under Section 11 of Contempt of Courts Act, praying to punish the respondents for having deliberately, willfully and intentionally flouted the order of this Hon'ble Court passed in W.P. No. 36708 of 2016 dated 20.10.2016.)

1. The Contempt Petition is filed to punish the respondents for their willful disobedience in respect of the orders passed by this Court in W.P. No. 36708 of 2016 dated 20.10.2016.

2. In the said Writ Petition, an order was passed by this court on 20.10.2016 which is extracted hereunder:

"3. Though the petitioner has prayed for a larger relief, this Court, in the light of the above facts and circumstances and without going into the merits of the claim projected by the petitioner either in this writ petition or in her representation, directs the 3rd respondent to act on the petitioner's representation dated 22.09.2016 seeking for free house site patta, on merits and in accordance with law, if the petitioner is otherwise eligible and pass orders within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and communicate the decision taken, to the petitioner. It is made clear that this Court is not expressing any opinion as regards the merits of the case in this order and it is for the 1st respondent to consider the claim of the petitioner.

4. The writ petition is disposed of with the above direction. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petition is closed."

3. However, the petitioner has not perused the remedy and allowed the time to lapse. A contempt notice was issued on 16.12.2019 and a copy of the acknowledgment card was received on 20.12.2019. The copy of the order was made ready by this court on 02.12.2016 and the same has been received by the petitioner on the same date. While so, the petitioner has not initiated any steps for the implementation of the orders passed by this court.

4. Contrarily, he wasted the enormous period and instituted the Contempt Petition now after a lapse of about four and half years. However, a Contempt Petition has to be filed within a period of one year as per the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. The principles regarding the limitation for entertaining the Contempt Petition has been elaborately adjudicated by this Court in Cont. P. No. 2337 of 2017 dated 18.04.2018 and the relevant paragraphs are extracted hereunder:

"3. Thus, this Court has to examine the maintainability of the contempt application in relation to the limitation prescribed under Section 20 of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Section 20 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 provides limitation for actions for contempt “No Court shall initiate any proceedings for contempt, either on its own motion or otherwise, after the expiry of a period of one year from the date on which the contempt is alleged to have been committed.”

4. Thus, it is clear that a limitation is prescribed for filing a contempt application against an order passed by the Court and one year period is prescribed from the date of cause of action arose. In the case on hand, the cause of action arose in August 2009 and the contempt application was filed on 15.07.2014. Thus, there is a delay of about 5 years even in filing the present contempt application.

5. Next question to be considered in this regard is that, whether this Court can invoke Article 215 of Constitution of India for entertaining the contempt application beyond the period of one year.

6. Article 215 of the Constitution of India provides that High Courts to be Courts of record ''Every High Court shall be a Court of record and shall have all the powers of such a Court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.”

7. Thus, the Constitution provides powers to the High Court to punish for contempt itself. No doubt, such a power is granted for the effective implementations of the orders of the Hon'ble High Court. However, this Court has to consider, whether such a power can be exercised beyond the period