COMMON ORDER

(Order of the Court was made by S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.)

Three contempt petitions have been instituted to punish the respondents for wilfull disobedience of the interim orders passed by the Family Court, Chennai in I.A.No.2283/2017 in OP 93/2017, I.A.No.03/2019 in OP No.3344/2019 and I.A.No.07/2021 in OP.No.3344/2019.

2. Admittedly, the matrimonial dispute exist between the contempt petitioner and the respondent. Since we are dealing with the contempt petition, we are not inclined to go into the merits of the matrimonial dispute, which all are expected to be adjudicated before the Court concerned.

3. Mr.G.Rajagopalan, the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner would submit that the present contempt petitions are filed under Section 10 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

4. Section 10 of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 contemplates power of High Court to punish contempts of subordinate Courts. Therefore, High Court is empowered to deal with the contempt petition in respect of interim orders passed by the Family Courts or any other courts subordinate to the High Court concerned.

5. In respect of delay in filing the contempt petition against the interim order passed in the years 2