Hon’ble Vikram Nath, J.—“Disobedience of orders of the Court strikes at the very root of the rule of law on which the judicial system rests. The rule of law is the foundation of a democratic society. The Judiciary is the guardian of the rule of law. If the judiciary is to perform its duties and functions effectively and remain true to the spirit with which it is sacredly entrusted, the dignity and authority of the Courts have to be respected and protected at all costs”.

The above is an extract from a recent judgement of the Apex Court in the case of Maninderjit Singh Bitta v. Union of India and others, (2012) 1 SCC 273.

2. Material on record of this contempt petition unfolds a blatant and glaring case of continuous and many faceted deliberate and wilfull disobedience of an injunction order obtained by the opposite party No. 4 from this Court. A huge plot of land admittedly situate within the domain and supervision of Cantonment Board, Meerut (hereinafter referred to as the Board) measuring 9.06 acres has been divided into dozens of plots, sold to different persons and a whole colony constructed containing palatial residential buildings, shopping and commercial complexes inc