DHARAM VEER SHARMA, J. - (1.) THE instant special appeal has been preferred under Chapter VIII, Rule 5 read with Rule 10, Chapter IX of Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952 against order dated 19.6.2006 (Annexure No. SA-I) passed by the Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.N. Shukla, in Writ Petition No. 3001 (M/S) of 2006, Dr. Virendar Singh v. Debts Recovery Appellant Tribunal, Allahabad and consequential contempt proceeding drawn by means of Criminal Misc. Case No. 1295 of 2006, State of LZ.P. v. Shri P.K. Deb, Chairperson initiated before this Hon'ble Court under Contempt Jurisdiction.
(2.) THE Writ Petition No. 3001 (M/S) of 2006, Dr. Virendra Singh v. Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad and others, the Hon'ble Single Judge on 19.6.2006 took suo moto cognizance by invoking his power under Article 215 of the Constitution of India as Court of record to punish for contempt alleged to have been committed by a retired Judge Justice P.K. Deb, Chairperson, Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad. It transpires from the record that in Misc. Appeal No. 154 of 2003, certain orders were passed by Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad despite order was challenged in Writ Petition No. 1210 (M/S) of 2004, which was dismissed by this Court by learned Single Judge, whereby order dated 18.5.2005 with following directions : - "In view of above, on account of availability of alternative statutory appellate remedy the present writ petition is not maintainable. It shall be open to the petitioner to prefer an appeal under, Section 20 of Recovery of Debt Dues to Bank and Financial Institution Act, 1993. On account of pendency of controversy in this Court since more than a year has been passed and also on account of fact that an interim order was passed in petitioner's favour, the Appellate Authority is directed to entertain the appeal on merit without being influenced by delay and latches. In case, the appeal is preferred within a period of one month from today, the Appellate Authority shall decide the same simultaneously along with the pending Misc. Appeal No. 154 of 2003, filed against the order dated 19.8.2003 in accordance to law. While deciding the appeal the Appellate Authority shall consider the ground raised by the petitioner's Counsel referred hereinabove apart from other grounds, which may be raised in the memo of appeal. The Appellate Authority shall decide both the appeal in accordance to law expeditiously and preferably within a period of four months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this Court. Parties shall maintain status quo for the period of four months or till disposal of appeal whichever is earlier. Subject to aforesaid observation, the writ petition is dismissed on account of availability of alternative remedy." In pursuance of the aforesaid directions, the matter was dealt with by Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal at Allahabad and following order was passed in Appeal No. R-543 of 2005 on 25.5.2006 by the appellant which reads as under : - "It appears that an assuming wrong jurisdiction the writ petition was filed before the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court, although' the matter relates to the Allahabad Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and it could also be found that the order of hearing the present appeal along with the Misc. Appeal No. 154 of 2003 was also misconceived as M.A. No. 154/2003 is pending before the learned Presiding Officer, DRT, Allahabad having sole jurisdiction over it under Section 30 of the Act and as such this Appellate Tribunal has got no jurisdiction to withdraw the appeal i.e., M.A. No. 154/2003 from the file of DRT, Allahabad or hearing the same along with the present appeal. This matter was considered at the time of admission of the present appeal and detailed observation was made in my order dated 25.1.2006 and the appeal was admitted only in respect of the impugned order alone. I do not want to reiterate the matter as the order dated 25.1.2006 had never been challenged before the Hon'ble High Court."
(3.) THE aforesaid observation was brought to the notice of Hon'ble Single Judge. After considering the submissions, following order was passed on 19.6.2006 which reads as under : - ".....Prima facie, after perusing the order impugned and the findings given by the opposite party No. 5 in light of order passed by this Court on 18.5.2005. I am of the view that a deliberate attempt has been made by the authority concerned to make such a finding against this Court, otherwise, if the authority concerned or any of the contesting parties was disagreed with the order passed by this Court, he should have got it modified or clarified by way of moving an application of modification/clarification by this Court. However, without adopting such recourse he proceeded to comment upon this Hon'ble Court which is not permissible under the law. It also cannot be taken as error in the order but the interpretation of the order passed by this Court committed by the said authority speaks that the same has been done in full conscious which, according to me, is a contempt of this Court. Accordingly, in exercise of power provided under Article 215 of the Constitution of India, I hereby draw a contempt proceedings against Mr. P.K. Deb, Chairperson, Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad, opposite party No. 6 and fix the next date as 4th July, 2006 for his appearance before this Court dealing with the jurisdiction of contempt matters...." ;