minal Appeal No 568 of 1976
From the Order dt 2 4 1975 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh in Criminal Original No 15Crl11975
Mohan Behari Lal for the Appellant
Hardev Singh Sunada Bhandare and Mohini for the Respondents Nos
1 2 511 section M Kacker Sol
Genl  R N Sachthey for Respondent No 3
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by UNTWALIA J
This is an appeal filed by the alleged contemner under section 191 of the hereinafter called the Act from the order dated 2nd April 1975 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana directing the issue of notice to the appellant to show cause why he should not be proceeded against for committing con tempt of the High Court
The Notice was issued in accordance with the procedure prescribed under section 17 of the Act to show cause against the appellant s alleged liability to be punished under section 15
A preliminary objection was raised by the Learned Solicitor General on behalf of the respondents that no appeal lies to this Court under section 19 of the Act from an order issuing notice as nothing yet has been decided by the High Court
Mr Mohan Behari Lai learned counsel for the appellant combated this argument and submitted that an appeal does lie to this Court as a matter of right under section 19
In our opinion the preliminary objection raised on behalf of the respondents is well founded and must be accepted as correct
section 191 says lm15
An appeal shall lie as of right from any order or decision of the High Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt a where the order or decision is that of a single judge to a Bench of not less than two Judges of the Court b where the order or decision is that of a Bench to the Supreme Court  Provided that where the order or decision is that of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner in any Union territory such appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court
 It would appear from a plain reading of the section that an appeal shall lie to this Court as a matter of right from any order or decision of a bench of the High Court if the order has been made in the exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt
No appeal can lie as a matter of right from any kind of order made by the High Court in the proceeding for contempt The proceeding is initiated under section 17 by issuance of a notice
Thereafter there may be many interlocutory orders passed in the said proceeding by the High Court
It could not be the intention of the legislature to provide for an appeal to this Court as a matter of right from each and every such order made by the High Court
The order or the decision must be such that it decides some bone of contention raised before the High Court affecting the right of the party aggrieved
Mere initiation of a proceeding for contempt by the issuance of the notice on the prima facie view that the case is a fit one for drawing up the proceeding does not decide any question
This Court 512 for the first time cannot be asked in such an appeal to decide whether the person proceeded against has committed contempt of the High Court or not
The matter has to be decided either finally or may be
even at an earlier stage an order is made which does decide a contention raised by the alleged contemner asking the High Court to drop the proceeding
It is neither possible nor advisable to make an exhaustive list of the typo of orders which may be appealable to this Court under section 19
A final order surely will be appealable
Our attention was drawn by Mr Mohan Behari Lai to section 20 of the Act which provides No Court shall initiate any proceedings for contempt either on its own motion or otherwise after the expiry of a period of one year from the date on which the contempt is alleged to have been committed
 He submitted that initiation of the proceeding by the High Court will be without jurisdiction if it is in violation of section 20
It may be so
If the alleged contemner in response to the notice appears before the High Court and asks it to drop the proceeding on the
ground of its being barred under section 20 of the Act but the High Court holds that the proceeding is not barred it may well be that an appeal would lie to this Court under section 19 from such an order although the proceeding has remained pending in the High Court
We are not called upon to express our final opinion in regard to such an order but we merely mention this type of order by way of an example to show that even orders made at some intermittent stage in the proceeding may be appealable under section 19
In our considered judgment an order merely initiating the proceeding without anything further does not decide anything against the alleged contemner and cannot be appealed against as a matter of right tinder section 19
in a given case special leave may be granted under article 136 of the Constitution from an order initiating the proceeding
But that is entirely a different matter
What we are deciding in this case is that the present appeal filed under section 19 1 of the Act does not lie and is incompetent
We find some support to the view expressed by us above from the decision of this Court in Baradakanta Mishra vs Orissa High Court1 where it has been held that no appeal lies to this Court under section 19 of the Act from an order rejecting the prayer of the alleged contemner for bearing the case piecemeal
Mr Lai placed reliance on the observations of this Court in Baradakanta Mishra vs Justice Gatikrushna Mishra 2
What has been decided therein is this  that on a reference made by the Advocate General if the Court declines to take cognisance and to initiate proceeding for contempt the order is not an order initiating contempt proceeding
Surely it is not appealable under section 19
But there are no observations by this Court nor on the facts of that case there can be any
to show that an appeal would lie to this Court from an order of the High Court merely initiating the proceeding by issuance of a notice
We may repeat that it may be a different matter if the order does decide 1 AIR 1976 SC 1206
2  at pp
531 32
513 some disputes raised before it by the contemner asking it to drop the proceeding on one ground or the other
But unless and until there is some order or decision of the High Court adjudicating upon any matter raised before it by the parties affecting their right the mere order issuing the notice is not appealable
The appeal is therefore dismissed as being not maintainable
P H P Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The High Court passed an order directing issue of notice to the appellant to show cause why he should not be proceeded against for committing contempt of the High Court
The notice was issued in accordance with the procedure prescribed under section 17 of the 
The appellant filed an appeal against the said order under section 191 of the Act in this Court
The counsel for the respondent raised a preliminary objection that no appeal under section 191 is maintainable against the order in question
Dismissing the appeal the Court HELD  1 An appeal lies to this Court as a matter of right from any order or decision of a Bench of the High Court if the order has been made in the exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt
However an appeal cannot lie from any kind of order made by the High Court in the proceeding for contempt
The proceeding is initiated under section 17 by issuance of a notice
Thereafter there may be many interlocutory orders passed in the said proceeding by the High Court
It could not be the intention of the Legislature to provide for an appeal to this Court as a matter of right from each and every such order made by the High Court
The order or the decision must be such that
it decides some bone of contention raised before the High Court affecting the right of the party aggrieved
Mere initiation of a proceeding does not decide any question
511 F H 2
if the alleged contemner in response to the notice appears before the High Court and asks it to drop the proceedings on the ground of its being barred under Section 20 of the Act but the High Court holds that the proceedings is not barred it may well be that an appeal would lie to this Court under section 19 It is neither possible nor advisable to make an exhaustive list of the type of orders which may be appealable under section 19
512 B C Baradakanta Mishra vs Orissa High Court AIR 1976 SC 1206 relied on
Baradakanta Mishra vs Justice Gatikrushna Mishra   53132 distinguished