Bhagwati, J. - (1.) The appellant is a printer and publisher of books in the State of Madhya Pradesh. The books printed and published by the appellant were at all material times very popular in the primary, middle and secondary schools in primary, middle and secondary schools in that State. Sometime in 1968 a Society called the Madhya Pradesh Pathya Pustak Rachna Avam Shaikhinik Anusandhan Nigam was registered under the Madhya Pradesh Societies Act, 1959. The Minister incharge of the portfolio of education was the ex-officio Chairman of this Society while some officers of the Government of Madhya Pradesh connected with the Education Department were ex officio members along with other non-official members nominated by the Government of Madhya Pradesh. This Society was known by the name of Text Books Corporation. It appears that the Text Books Corporation prepared text books in certain subjects for use in primary and middle schools and it was apprehended that the State Government would prescribe those text books for exclusive use in primary and middle schools throughout the State of Madhya Pradesh. This would naturally hurt the appellant in his business because the text books printed and published by him would be excluded from use and there would be no market for them. The appellant, therefore, filed Civil Suit No. 22A of 1973 in the Court of 4th Civil Judge, Class II, Jabalpur on 2nd March, 1973 claiming various reliefs against the State of Madhya Pradesh, the Text Books Corporation and the Registrar of Firms and Societies, Madhya Pradesh. An application for interim injunction was also filed by the appellant along with the plaint on the same day and on the application, an ex parte order of interim injunction was issued by the learned Civil Judge against the respondents. The notice of the application for interim injunction was served on the respondents and its hearing was fixed on 26th March, 1973. The State of Madhya Pradesh, which is respondent No. 1, made an application to the learned Civil Judge on 26th March, 1973 for vacating the ex parte order of interim injunction and though this application was fixed for hearing on 28th March, 1973, it was adjourned to 31st March, 1973 at the instance of respondent No. 1. In the meantime, on 27th March, 1973, respondent No. 1 filed a revision application in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh for revising the ex parte order of interim injunction passed by the learned Civil Judge. The High Court by an order dated 28th March 1973 admitted the revision application and granted ex parte stay of the operation of the ex parte order of interim injunction. The notice of the application for stay was served on the appellant and after hearing the appellant who appeared to show cause, the High Court by an order dated 2nd April, 1973 confirmed the ex parte order dated 28th March, 1973 staying the operation of the order of injunction dated 2nd March, 1973.
(2.) The appellant thereupon preferred a petition for special leave against the orders of the High Court dated 28th March, 1973 and 2nd April, 1973. The learned Vacation Judge, before whom the special leave petition came up for hearing during the vacation on 18th May, 1973, issued notice to the respondents to show cause why special leave should not be granted and on the application for stay, the learned Vacation Judge made an order granting "interim stay of the operation of the order of the High Court dated 28th March, 1973 as confirmed on 2nd April, 1973" and also stayed further proceedings in the revision application before the High Court pending notice of motion. On 5th June, 1973, this interim order dated 18th May, 1973 was modified by the learned Vacation Judge after hearing the parties and the relaxation granted was as follows: "The order passed by this Court on 18-6-1973 will not prevent the Respondents from doing the work of writing, revising, compiling, editing designing and printing the books but they will not release the books for distribution before the disposal of this application. Notice made returnable on 19th June 1973. If any member of the Society is not served by 19th June 1973, the matter will, be heard ex parte as against him. Contempt matter also to come up for orders on 19th June 1973." Now the appellant had in the meantime filed Writ Petition No. 1177 of 1973 in this Court challenging the constitutionality of Section 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Prathamik, Middle School Tatha Madhyamik Shiksha (Pathya Pustakon Sambandhi) Vyavastha Adhiniyam, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as Act 13 of 1973) and the validity of the order dated 24th May, 1973 made by the State Government under S. 4, sub-section (1) of that Act prescribing certain text books in Botany, Zoology, History, Commerce and English printed and published by private parties. This writ petition was admitted and rule nisi was issued by the learned Vacation Judge on 8th June, 1973 and on the application for stay made in the writ petition an interim order was made on the same day staying the operation of the order dated 24th May, 1973 and restraining the respondents from approving text books on any subjects other than those covered by the order dated 24th May, 1973 pending disposal of the said application. The petition for special leave along with the application for injunction in that petition as also the stay application in the writ petition thereafter came up for hearing before the learned Vacation Judge on 19th June, 1973. The learned Vacation Judge granted special leave to appeal and directed that the appeal be heard along with the writ petition and so far as the applications for interim injunction and stay were concerned, the learned Vacation Judge made a further modification in the interim order dated 18th May, 1973 giving liberty to the respondents in the appeal to put into circulation and sale 29 text books which were already in use and also relaxed the interim order dated 8th June, 1973 by permitting the respondents in the writ petition "to print the books in regard to the five subjects, namely, Botany, Zoology, History Commerce and English, but not to publish or distribute them for sale".
(3.) On 27th June, 1973 an English Daily newspaper, called Hitwad, published a Press Note issued by the State Government which was to the following effect: "The Primary, Middle and Higher Secondary Schools in the State are scheduled to open after the summer vacation on 2-7-1973. Advance arrangements had been made for preparation, printing and publication of Text-Books through the Text Books Corporation so that they are freely available by that date. The State Government was served with a stay order of the 2nd March 1973 by the Civil Judge Class II, Jabalpur. Even though this order was vacated by the High Court on 28th March 1973, the Supreme Court on 18th May 1973 reimposed the earlier restrictions. It is only on the 5th of June that the Supreme Court allowed the State Government and the Text Books Corporation to go ahead with the printing of the text books. On the 19th of June the Supreme Court has further allowed the publication and distribution of 28 text books for classes I to VIII. In relation to 7 text books the earlier stay regarding publication and distribution still continues. This matter will come up before the Court again on the 16th of July. In the case of classes IX to XI the Supreme Court has also stayed the order of the State Government prescribing books in Botany, Zoology, Commerce, History and English. The Supreme Court has also prohibited the prescription of books of any other subjects. This will affect subjects like Sanskrit and History etc. Regarding 7 text books, viz. Science for Classes III and IV, English and Sanskrit for class VI and Supplementary Readers in Hindi for classes VI, VII and VIII, the position is that the State Government had indicated on 21-9-1973 and that text books in these subjects prepared by the Text Books Corporation would be taught from the academic session 1973-74 and that those would be the only books used for these subjects from that session onwards. It is likely that as a result of this order books published by private parties will no longer be available in the coming session, Moreover, the State Government have formally prescribed the books prepared by the Text Books Corporation under the powers vested in them under S. 4(1) of the M. P. Prathmik, Middle School Tatha Madhyamik Shiksha (Pathya Pustakon Sambandhi Vyavastha) Adhiniyam 1973. Consequently the use of any other text book in the School save those prescribed by the State Government is prohibited. Unless the matter is fully placed before the Supreme Court and its final decision obtained, the position about the exact books to be used by students and teachers in schools is not clear. Considering these facts and the difficulty that the students and parents may face without text books, the State Government have decided that the schools should open on Monday the 16th instead of the 2nd July. The State Government will also try to ensure that the consequential loss in teaching days will be kept to the minimum during the academic session." This Press Note was preceded by the report of a statement alleged to have been made by one Arjun Singh, Minister for Education at a Press Conference, namely; "Mr. Singh said the postponement of the reopening date of the schools by a fortnight, would enable the Government to take necessary steps for the preparation, printing and publication of the text-books and their timely distribution to the students." The appellant, taking the view that some of the statements contained in the Press Note constituted contempt of court, filed a Miscellaneous Petition in this Court for taking proceedings against Arjun Singh for contempt of court. This petition for contempt was also directed against one Y. N. Chaturvedi, Director, Text Books Corporation. On this petition for contempt, notice was ordered to be issued and it was made returnable on 16th July, 1973.;