LAWS(JHAR)-2003-1-14

RAMDEO ORAON Vs. RUPLAL MANJHI

Decided On January 31, 2003
RAMDEO ORAON Appellant
V/S
RUPLAL MANJHI Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In L. P. A. No. 367 of 2000 (R) on 16-8-2001 the following interim order was passed by the Division Bench :-

(2.) The District Registrar has filed his show cause, a reading whereof clearly reveals that he had joined on the post of District Registrar on 16-9-2002. On 19-10-2002 a proposal was placed before him by Shri Rup Lal Manjhi, District Sub-registrar, Ranchi for transferring the petitioner from Ranchi to Khunti. A copy of the proposal/note is filed as Annexure-A/1 with the show cause of the District Registrar, a perusal whereof does show that in this proposal/note Shri Rup Lal Manjhi did not even care to inform the District Registrar about the passing of the aforesaid Division Bench Order on 16-8-2001 and the fact that that Order continued to operate as on the date of submission of that proposal. The District Registrar obviously had no means of acquiring any knowledge about the passing of the Division Bench Order. He went by the advice of his subordinate and in total ignorance of the passing or the continued operation of the aforesaid High Court Order, he approved the proposal, which resulted in the passing of the transfer order on 12-11-2002. The District Registrar, therefore, cannot be held to have committed any Contempt of this Court in any manner. The District Registrar was dragged in these Contempt Proceedings only because Rup Lal Manjhi, District Sub-Registrar unsuccessfully tried to shift the blame upon him. If he thought that under the cloak of shifting the blame on the District Registrar, he might succeed in avoiding his liability of answering the Contempt Charge, to say the least, the conduct of Shri Rup Lal Manjhi in doing so and thereby unnecessarily dragging his Superior Officer into the Contempt dragnet and also thus in unsuccessfully trying to extricate him, is very deplorable and totally unbecoming of a disciplined Government Servant.

(3.) Shri Rup Lal Manjhi has not pleaded the ignorance on his part of the Division Bench Order dated 16-8-2001. Despite his clear knowledge of the passing of that order and despite he being the person directly responsible in the matter, in failing to record in his note dated 19-10-2002 the fact about the passing of the Order by the Court he also committed an act of dereliction of duty in misleading his Superior Officer about the existence and continued operation of the High Court Order.