CALCUTTA YOUTH FRONT Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By these applications the applicants Calcutta Youth Front and its President Hridayanand Gupta pray for committing for contempt respondents 3-9 under the Contempt of courts Act, 1971, namely : 1. Kamal Basil, Mayor and Administrator, Calcutta Municipal Corporation, 2. R. K. Prasannan, Municipal Commissioner, 3. B. C. Mitra, Municipal Engineer-in-Chief, 4. B. K. Roy, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Sr. ) , 5. A. K. Sarkar, Chief Municipal Architect and Town Planner, 6. A. K. Goswami, District Engineer, 7. Dr S. K. Chowdhury, Chief Municipal Health Officer, as well as the lessees respondents 13 and 14 Jugal Kishore Kajaria in his individual capacityas well as Director, Messrs Happy Homes and Hotels Private Limited. The applicants allege that these respondents were guilty of contempt in that they had in breach of the terms and conditions laid down by this court in its order dated 18/08/1987 in Special Leave Petitions 5678-79 of 1987 permitted the lessees Messrs Happy Homes and Hotels Pvt. Ltd. to construct an underground air-conditioned market at Satyanarayan Park, and that they had connived and acquiesced in permitting the lessees to construct four pucca structures 15 feet in height above the road level partly covering the surface of the park and covering a major portion of the surface of the park. It is alleged that the said constructions constitute gross and deliberate violation of the undertaking of respondent 13 in his supplementary affidavit dated 25/07/1987 and the terms of the courts order dated 18/10/1987. Applicant 2 Hridayanand Gupta in his affidavit dated 14/07/1988 placed reliance on the following observations made by this court in its order :

(2.) Having carefully gone through the applications for contempt, the counter-affidavit of respondents 13 and 14 and that filed on behalf of the Municipal Corporation, and having regard to the fact that the allegations made in the applications involve controverted facts, we thought it expedient to request Shri Justice Urnesh Chandra Banerjee by our order dated 21/04/1988 to hold an enquiry as to whether there was a violation of the judgment and order passed by him, as affirmed in Letters Patent Appeal by the division bench and also by this court, and directed him to forward his findings by the second week of July 1988 after hearing the parties. It was clarified while making the order that that direction of ours was not to be construed as meaning that there was a breach of the terms and conditions laid down in the judgment. It was further directed that the High court shall not, during the pendency of the enquiry, pass any interim order which would tend to obstruct or delay the completion of the construction work of the underground air-conditioned market.

(3.) In compliance therewith, Shri Justice Umesh Chandra Banerjee has submitted his report holding that there was no violation of his judgment. The learned Single Judge not only heard the parties but also took the trouble of personally visiting the park and noted his observations on personal inspection. In the report the learned Judge records his visual impression in the following words: