Court emphasizes the necessity of providing reasons in judicial decisions to ensure transparency and prevent arbitrary actions.

ORAL ORDER

1. This petition is filed by the petitioner Nos.1 to 3/ defendant Nos. 1 to 3, under ArticleS.226 and 227 of the Constitution of India , 1950, with the following prayers:

“i) Allow the Above Writ Petition.

ii) Call for the records in O.S.No.353/2018 on the file of the Hon’ble Principal Civil Judge and JMFC at Malur and set aside the orders dated 12/04/2019, 16/04/2019, 26/04/2019, 28/05/2019 and 30/05/2019 at Annexure A, passed against this petitioners.

iii) Quash the Show cause notice and Contempt Notice issued Against the petitioners at Annexure H.

iv) Award costs;

v) Issue any other writ, pass any such other or directions that this Hon’ble Court deems fit, in the interest of justice and equity.”

2. The petition seeks to challenge five orders passed by the learned Trial Court.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioners/defendant Nos.1 to 3 makes two submissions. Firstly, he submits that the Impugned Orders cannot be complied with, they are dehors the law. Secondly, he contends that the order arose out of an order dated 21.03.2019, which was challenged by the petitioners/ defendants Nos.1 to 3 before the High Court in Writ Petition No.14761/2019(GM-CPC). Lastly, learned counsel for the petitioners/defendant Nos.1 to 3 contends that the learned Trial Court has not decided I.A.No.6, in accordance with law.

4. None appears for the respondents, despite service. Given the pendency of the matter for the last more than six years, this Court deems it expedient to decide the matter today.

5. A review of the impugned order dated 21.03.2019 reveals that the learned Trial Court had passed an order to petitioners/ defendants No.1 to 3 to take steps to recover arrears of taxes from Factories, Industries and Companies, situated within the limits of a particular Grama Panchayath.

6. This order was the subject matter of challenge before this Court in Writ Petition No.14761/2019. The challenge of the petitioners/defendant Nos.1 to 3 was repelled along with costs of Rs.30,000/- (Rs.10,000/- each to be paid by the petitioners/ defendant Nos.1 to 3 from their own pockets to the Advocates’ Association, Malur, (Library Fund). The co-ordinate Bench also found that if the petitioners/defendant Nos.1 to 3 needed additional time to comply with the order, nothing prevented them from filing an application for extension of time, however, they failed to do so and instead, came to the High Court challenging such an order. It is apposite to extract the relevant paragraphs 11 and 12 as below:

“11. The learned Judge, taking into consideration the entire material on record, exercising inherent powers, passed the impugned Order. No prejudice will be caused to the petitioners, by the impugned Order. If the petitioners really wanted to discharge their institutional responsibility and constitutional obligation, in all fairness, should have filed an application or Memo before the Court seeking reasonable time to file the report, if they feel that they can’t submit the report within seven days, as directed. Instead of doing so, the petitioners are before this Court by filing writ petition. This is nothing but daring ride on the Court, which cannot be encouraged. This Court appreciates the courage and commitment of the learned Judge who passed the impugned Order, in exercise of inherent power under the provisions of Section 151 of Code of Civil Procedure.

12. In view of the above, petitioners have not made out any ground to interfere with the impugned Order in exercise of powers under ArticleS.227 of the Constitution of India . Accordingly, Writ Petition is dismissed with cost of Rs.10,000/- to each of the petitioners (i.e., in total Rs.30,000/-) payable from their own pockets to the Advocates’ A