VINOD KUMAR GUPTA Vs. VEER BAHADUR YADAV

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This intra-court appeal is against the judgment and order dtd. 17/3/2023 passed by the learned Single Judge exercising contempt jurisdiction in Contempt Application (Civil) No.1894 of 2023, by which the learned Single Judge upon finding that the opposite party has not committed contempt, has declined to initiate proceedings for contempt.

(2.) The case of the writ petitioner before the Contempt Court was that on 7/9/2022 in Public Interest Litigation (PIL) No. 1686 of 2022 (Vinod Kumar Gupta and others vs. State of U.P. and 3 others), liberty was accorded to the appellant-petitioner to approach the appropriate forum under Sec. 67 of the U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 for removal of encroachments on the public land, however, despite the fact that the appellant-writ petitioner represented his cause before the competent authority on 21/9/2022, 1/10/2022 and 15/2/2023, no action was taken at the level of the opposite parties, which occasioned the appellant-writ petitioner to institute contempt petition alleging disobedience of the orders of the Writ-Court.

(3.) Submission is that a clear cut case of contempt is made out against the opposite parties, but the learned Single Judge has erred in law in decling to exercise its jurisdiction vested under Sec. 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.