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TMI Blog1962 (1) TMI 73X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ructions. The relevant facts are these. Gurbaksh Singh respondent in the two appeals, was a Forester in the Punjab Forest Department. Pratap Singh, appellant in Criminal Appeal no. 128 of 1959, was, at the relevant time, Chief Conservator of Forests, Punjab. Bachan Singh, appellant in the other appeal, was Divisional Forest Officer, Amritsar. It appears that in the year 1950 the respondent supplied three lacs cubic feet of timber to the various ordnance Depots under orders of the then Chief Conservator of Forests. In 1954, the then Chief Conservator of Forests sent a letter to the respondent alleging that there had been a short supply in the timber which was sent to the Ordnance Depot at Chhoke and that there had been a loss of ₹ 11,366 to the Government. By an order conveyed in a letter dated July 16, 1956, the State Government directed the Chief Conservator of Forests to recover ten per cent. of the loss i.e. ₹ 1,136 and odd annas from the respondent Gurbaksh Singh. The letter further stated that the recovery sought to be made from the salary of the respondent was in accordance with the rules contained in the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 195 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dum, the appellant Pratap Singh sent a copy thereof to the Conservator of Forests, South Circle, and directed that the respondent should be proceeded with in accordance with the instructions aforesaid and a copy of the proceedings recorded and orders passed in the case should be forwarded to him. On receipt of the said orders, the Conservator of Forests, South Circle, passed an office order appointing Bachan Singh, appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 129 of 1959, to hold an enquiry against the respondent for having contravened the instructions contained in the circular letter quoted above. Bachan Singh then drew up a charge-sheet against the respondent and asked him to submit an explanation in writing within 15 days. In the charge-sheet it was stated that the respondent had gone to a court of law before exhausting all his departmental remedies and this was contrary to official propriety and subversive of good discipline. The charge-sheet appears to have been drawn up on or about August 30, 1957. Then, on September 14,1957, the respondent made an application to the High Court to the effect that the two appellants had committed contempt of court punishable under s. 3 of the Contempt of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of interference with the due course of justice in the matter of the writ petition filed in the High Court, but the High Court held the appellants guilty of a different offence, namely, of interference with the course of justice in respect of the suit pending in the Court of the Senior Subordinate Judge, Amritsar. The second point which has been taken on behalf of the appellants is that on a fair construction of the terms of the circular letter on which the two appellants took action against the respondent, it should be held that it did not constitute an interference with the course of justice, inasmuch as it did not impose any absolute ban on a Government servant to have recourse to a court of law for the redress of his grievances arising out of his employment or conditions of his service, but merely imposed an obligation on a Government servant to exhaust his departmental remedies before taking recourse to a court of law. It has been argued that on this view of the circular letter, the action taken by the appellants against the respondent did not constitute an interference with the course of justice in respect of the suit which was pending in the court of the Senior Subordinat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ore substantial nature. We have already quoted the terms of the circular letter dated January 25, 1953. There was some argument before us as to whether the said circular letter contained executive instructions only or laid down a rule as to a condition of service. Our attention was drawn to some institutions or departments of Government, where a rule in similar terms laid down as one of the conditions of service that it is improper for a Government servant to take recourse to a court of law before he has exhausted the normal official channels of redress. Learned Advocates for the parties were, however, agreed that no rule laying down the conditions of service of Government servants serving in the department to which the respondent belonged imposed an obligation similar to that imposed by the circular letter. We have, therefore, proceeded in this case on the footing that the circular letter contained executive instructions only and did not embody a rule governing the conditions of service. Therefore we have not thought it necessary to consider what the position would be if such a rule were made a condition of employment for certain Government servants, Other considerations would the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ith or prejudice parties litigant or their witnesses during the litigation. (Oswald's Contempt of Court, 3rd Edition, page 6.) We are concerned in the present case with the second part, namely, to interfere with or prejudice parties litigant during the litigation . In the case under our consideration the respondent had instituted a suit in the court of the Senior Subordinate Judge, Amritsar, in respect of his grievance that a certain sum of money was being illegally deducted from his salary. On behalf of the respondent it was alleged that he had no further departmental remedies to exhaust, inasmuch as the order by which a part of his salary was being deducted was a final order made by the Punjab Government after considering the respondent's explanation. On behalf of the appellants it has been contended that the respondent had still a further remedy by way of an appeal to the Governor. That is a matter with which we are not really concerned, as it relates to the question whether the respondent had or had not violated the terms of the circular letter. We are concerned with the action that was taken against the respondent on the footing, right or wrong, that he had violated ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... can, in our opinion, have only one tendency, namely, the tendency to coerce the respondent and force him to withdraw his suit or otherwise not press it. If that be the clear and unmistakable tendency of the proceedings taken against the respondent, then there can be no doubt that in law the appellants have been guilty of contempt of court, even though they were merely carrying out the instructions contained in the circular letter. We have been referred to a large number of decisions dealing with various aspects of contempt of court. We consider it unnecessary to refer to them all, because it is clear to us that any conduct which interferes with or prejudices parties litigant during the litigation is undoubtedly contempt of court. There is, however, one decision which is very much in point and to which we must refer. In Shankar Lal Sharma v. M. S Bisht (1) in very similar circumstances it was held by the Allahabad High Court that if any kind of threat or any action which may amount to a threat is held out to a person who approached the Civil Courts for a redress of his grievances, with a view to induce him to forego the assistance of the Civil Courts the action amounts to a cont ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... land, adjoining a highway and farming part of a settled estate issued a writ against the local authority for an injunction to restrain an alleged trespass on his land; the solicitor of the tenant for life wrote to the local authority with a view to arrange the matter and at the same time wrote to the tenant that the tenant for life required him to withdraw the writ, and that, if he did not comply, his tenancy would be determined. It was heldthat the solicitor had not committed a conr tempt of court. The decision proceeded on thefootings that the tenant for life had the right to turn out the yearly tenant and there was nothing to prevent the tenant for life, who was the landlord, from exercising his legal rights if he did so honestly to protect the rights he had in the property. We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that the appellants were guilty of contempt of the Court of the Senior Subordinate Judge, Amritsar and in awarding the sentence the High Court correctly took into consideration the circumstance that the appellants were merely carrying out the instructions contained in the circular letter. Though that circumstance does not afford a defence to the charge, it is un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... case or directed Gurbaksh Singh to do, in connection with that case. For the purposes of the charge laid against him, the merits of the civil case were irrelevant. The charge was with respect to misconduct and indiscipline which exnsisted simply in his going to Court without exhausting all the normal official channels of redress. Gurbaksh Singh had simply to point out that he had exhausted all the official channels open to him and that therefore, he had not acted in contravention of the directions given in the Circular. The charge-sheet did not, in any way, threaten Gurbaksh Singh with any consequences in view of his continuing his suit. His continuing the suit will not be in contravention of the Circular and therefore, will not be misconduct or indiscipline on account of his contravening the directions of the Circular. I am unable, therefore, to conclude from the Departmental charge-sheet against Gurbaksh Singh during the pendency of his suit in Court that the Departmental proceedings were in order to put pressure on him to withdraw his suit or face the consequences of disciplinary action. Even if Gurbaksh Singh does not withdraw the suit, the basis of the charge against him w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... udicial proceeding, as a party is free to take action to enforce his legal rights. The case reported as Shankar Lal Sharma v. M. S. Bisht(2) does go against the appellants. I however do not agree with the conclusion in that case that the calling for an explanation from the employee as to why he had submitted a writ application in the High Court, in contravention of certain directions contained in the Government Circular of 1952, was an attempt to hold out a threat of Departmental action against him in order to induce him to withdraw the application he had presented for the protection of his rights under the Constitution. On the other hand, in the case reported as Cheriyan Joseph v. Dr. James (3), a different view was expressed. The plaintiff instituted a suit for a declaration that a certain resolution was not binding upon the church or the parish in which he resided and for a permanent injunction to restrain the defendants from acting in pursuance of that resolution. The Vicar of that church was one of the defendants. The Bishop's letter to the plaintiff contained a threat to excommunicate him and to claim damages from him in case he did not withdraw his suit forthwith. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lon and is such a Visitor of the Jail, made certain remarks in the Visitor's Book, which were considered to amount to contempt of court by the Supreme Court of Ceylon. On appeal, the Privy Council said. Their Lordships are satisfied that the order against the appellant ought not to have been made... But Mr. Perera, too, has rights that must be respected, and their Lordships are unable to find any thing in his conduct that comes within the definition of contempt of court. That phrase has not lacked authoritative interpretation. There must be involved some 'act done' or writing published calculated to bring a court or a Judge of the court into contempt or to lower his authority'; or some thing 'calculated to obstruct or interfere with the due course of justice or the lawful process of the court': See, Reg. v. Gray (1900) 2 Q.B. 36. What has been done here is not at all that kind of thing. Mr. Perera was acting in good faith and in discharge of what he believed to be his duty as a member of the legislature. His information was inaccurate, but he made no public use of it, contenting himself with entering his comment in the appropriate instrument, the visitor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the administration of justice by it is weakened. Contempt of Court proceedings are in public interest and so are Departmental proceedings against Government employees for any act of indiscipline committed by them. It is therefore only when the Departmental action directly affects the course of the judicial proceeding that it can amount to interfering with the course of justice and consequently, to contempt of Court. If it does not do so, there can be no case of contempt of Court. In Re the South Shields (Thames Street) Clearance Order, 1931(1) certain articles were published suggesting that the appellants by their appeal were keeping the tenants out of the new houses, that they were hindering the progress of housing in the borough and causing the corporation to lose the rent of the new houses. It was argued that the articles constituted contempt not as affecting the mind of the Court that would hear the appeal, but as tending to deter the appellants and other from coming to the Court and presenting their appeal and that the articles were thus calculated to affect the course of justice. It was held that the rule ought not to be granted as the issue of the writ of attachme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the party, if any, as would hold him up to hatred or contempt. Lastly, I may refer to the judgment of this Court in Saibal Kamar Gupta v. B. K. Sen (2). Proceeding in revision against the Sessions Judge's orderfor further enquiry on a complaint filed by one Bimala Kanta Rov Choudhury against B. K. Sen, under s. 497, I. P. C., were pending in the High Court. B. K. Sen held the office of Commissioner of the Calcutta Corporation. The Corporation appointed a Special Committee of three Councillors to enquire into the allegations levelled against certain officials, including B. K. Sen, of the Corporation, who were alleged to have been taking advantage of their office in carrying on business in their own names. The Special Committee issued a questionnaire to B. K. Sen. Some of the questions related to his giving appointments to certain persons who were related to certain witnesses in the case, his giving appointments to certain persons and condoning the punishment previously inflicted on one person, as they were helping him in continuing the defence in that case and to his being instrumental in securing the appointment of another probable prosecution witness. The High Court consid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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