Noor Saba vs Anoop Mishra & Anr

1. The contempt petitioner had filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution [W.P.(C) No. 503 of 2007] raising a plea that after her husband had passed away in the year 1980, while serving as the Headmaster in Government Public School, Rampur under the Uttar Pradesh Basic Shiksha Parishad, a meagre and inadequate amount of family pension was being paid to her leaving her in a dire state of penury and distress. The writ petition in question was filed before this Court even while a writ proceeding on the same issue was pending before the Allahabad High Court. Notwithstanding the above, taking into account the peculiar facts of the case, particularly, the distress that the petitioner claimed to be suffering from, this Court entertained the writ petition and disposed of the same by the order dated 29.7.2008 in the following terms :

2. While disposing of the writ petition in the above terms by order dated 29.7.2008, this Court had recorded certain facts which being relevant to the present proceedings are being noticed hereinafter.

The petitioner’s husband late Masood Umer Khan was initially appointed as an Assistant Teacher in the year 1959 and he was holding the post of Headmaster in the Government Public School, Rampur when he passed away on 5.4.1980. The petitioner was granted family pension at the rate of Rs. 200/- per month which was later revised to Rs. 425/-. The revised amount was reduced to Rs. 375/- per month and an attempt was made to recover the excess amount allegedly overdrawn by the petitioner. The aforesaid action of the State was challenged by the petitioner in a writ proceeding before the Allahabad High Court which was, however, dismissed on 4.3.2005. Aggrieved, an intra-court appeal was filed against the said order dated 4.3.2005 in which an interim order was passed directing continuance of payment of family pension to the petitioner at the rate of Rs. 425/- per month. While the matter was so situated the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution [W.P. (C) No. 503/2007] was filed before this Court which was disposed of in terms of the directions already noticed and extracted above.

3. Alleging that the directions issued by this Court on 29.7.2008 while disposing of W.P. (C) No. 503/2007 had not been implemented Contempt Petition (C) No. 6/2009 was filed. Simultaneously, another contempt petition i.e. Contempt Petition(C) No. 7/2009 was instituted contending that in the proceedings in W.P.(C) No. 503/2007 certain forged and fabricated documents were placed by the official respondents before this Court which amounted to an abuse of the process of the Court for which the respondents in the writ petition are liable in contempt.

6. Two significant facts which would render it wholly unnecessary to adjudicate Contempt Petitions No. 6 and 7 of 2009 may be taken note of at this stage. The first is that by virtue of the order dated 1.9.2010 passed in the aforesaid two contempt petitions the issues before the Court have become crystallized in a somewhat different manner and the adjudication that would be necessary now has changed its complexion to one of compliance of the directions contained in the order of this Court dated 1.9.2010 by the Accountant General of the State of Uttar Pradesh. The second significant fact is that no serious issue has been raised on behalf of the petitioner with regard to the necessity of any further adjudication of Contempt Petitions No. 6/2009 and 7/2009 and the entire of the arguments advanced on behalf of the petitioner has centred around the issues arising in Contempt Petition No. 3/2012. We, therefore, proceed to consider Contempt Petition No. 3/2012 and deem it appropriate to close Contempt Petition Nos. 6/2009 and 7/2009 as not requiring any further orders of the Court.

7. In Contempt Petition No. 3/2012 the contempt petitioner had claimed that the Accountant General, State of Uttar Pradesh has not taken any steps to comply with the order/directions dated 1.9.2010 of this Court and has not calculated the amount of pension payable to the petitioner. The contempt petitioner has further alleged that inspite of the repeated reminders the default on the part of the Accountant General, State of Uttar Pradesh, had persisted. Furthermore, it is the case of the contempt petitioner that she is an old lady of 72 years of age who has been unjustly deprived of the pension due to her ever since her husband had passed away on 5.4.1980 while he was still in service.

9. The Respondent No. 2 in the contempt petition, namely, the Accountant General of the State of Uttar Pradesh has also filed an affidavit stating the facts relevant to the case and asserting that the calculations made by the Office of the Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Rampur with regard to family pension due to the petitioner corresponds to the calculation of such pension made by the office of the Accountant General and that there is no apparent error in the calculation with regard to the pensionary entitlements of the petitioner.

12. To hold the respondents or anyone of them liable for contempt this Court has to arrive at a conclusion that the respondents have wilfully disobeyed the order of the Court. The exercise of contempt jurisdiction is summary in nature and an adjudication of the liability of the alleged contemnor for wilful disobedience of the Court is normally made on admitted and undisputed facts. In the present case not only there has been a shift in the stand of the petitioner with regard to the basic facts on which commission of contempt has been alleged even the said new/altered facts do not permit an adjudication in consonance with the established principles of exercise of contempt jurisdiction so as to enable the Court to come to a conclusion that any of the respondents have wilfully disobeyed the order of this Court dated 1.9.2010. We, accordingly, hold that no case of commission of any contempt of this Court’s order dated 1.9.2010 is made out. Consequently, Contempt Petition No. 3/2012 is dismissed. For reasons already recorded, Contempt Petition Nos. 6/2009 and 7/2009 shall also stand closed.