N.A. SADASHIVA Vs. S.V. RANGANATH, REPRESENTED BY ITS CHIEF SECRETARY, B.G. NANDAKUMAR AND CHANDRASHEKAR DAVANAGERE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition filed under Article 215 of the Constitution of India r/w Sections 11 and 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 praying to initiate contempt proceedings against the accused Nos. 1 to 3 for disobeying the order dated 08.03.2013 made in W.A. No. 3642/2012 and W.A. Nos. 8533-8541/2012 on the file of the Division Bench of this Court. For the purpose of convenience, the complainants are hereinafter referred to as "the petitioners" as mentioned in W.P. Nos. 40419-40428/2010.

(2.) Brief facts of the case leading to the filing of the contempt petition may be stated as under:

(3.) We have perused the order sheet in this Contempt Petition. This Civil Contempt Petition was filed on 13.08.2013. According to the roster, contempt petition was listed on 23.10.2013 before the Bench of Mr. Justice K.L. Manjunath and Mr. Justice H.S. Kempanna. They adjourned the case to 25.10.2013. There is no order or direction by the division Bench to post the case before some other Bench. But on 24.10.2013, the Registry suo-motu moved the Hon'ble Chief Justice for assigning the Contempt Petition to some other Bench and thus Hon'ble Chief Justice by his special order dated 24.10.2013 ordered to post this matter before this Bench. The Registry was directed to put up its report as to why the special order for posting the case before some other Bench was obtained. Accordingly, a report dated 5.11.2013 has been submitted. The reason assigned by the Registry is that Hon'ble Mr. Justice K.L. Manjunath and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ravi Malimath have passed the order dated 8.3.2013 (alleged to be disobeyed by the Accused) and as per Section 4 of the Karnataka High Court Act, 1961, Hon'ble Justice K.L. Manjunath who has passed the said order dated 8.3.2013 by heading the Division Bench, he is disabled to hear the Contempt Petition.