HARPHOOL SINGH Vs. RANBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This case arises out of a reference made by the District Judge, Meerut, to the Court for initiating contempt proceedings against the opposite parties.

(2.) In short, the relevant facts are that inspite of a stay order passed on 31-1-1976 by the learned District Judge, the alleged contemners demolished the wall which was the subject matter of proceedings under Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The wall is said to have been demolished on 11-3-1976 flouting the stay order. The learned District Judge called upon the alleged contemners to show cause why the matter be not referred to the High Court. After an enquiry the learned District Judge referred the matter to this Court by his order dated 31-1-1978, recommending that contempt proceedings be initiated against the opposite parties.

(3.) It may be pointed out that under Section 20 of the Contempt of Courts Act, the period of limitation within which this Court can take congnizance of an alleged Contempt is one year. A preliminary objection was raised on behalf of the opposite parties that as more than one year had passed already when the learned District Judge referred the matter to this Court, this Court could not take cognizance of the alleged contempt of the Court of the learned District Judge. In support of this contention the attention of this Court was drawn to the observations made by a Division Bench of this Court in Gulab Singh v. The Principal Shrt Ramji Das, 1975 AIR(All) 366.