Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Union Of India vs D. Nanaji on 27 January, 2023
Bench: A.S. Bopanna, Hima Kohli
ITEM NO.14 COURT NO.12 SECTION XII-A
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) Diary No. 41984/2022
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 25-07-2022
in WP No. 21506/2022 passed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at
Amravati)
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
D. NANAJI & ORS. Respondent(s)
(FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.1276/2023-CONDONATION OF DELAY IN
FILING and IA No.1277/2023-EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE
IMPUGNED JUDGMENT )
Date : 27-01-2023 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. BOPANNA
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
For Petitioner(s) Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mrs. Archana Surve Shinde, Adv.
Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Mrs. Alka Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.
Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv.
Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, Adv.
Ms. Manisha Chava, Adv.
Ms. B.L.N. Shivani, Adv.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. K.R.K.V. Prasad, Adv.
Mr. A.V.S. Raju, Adv.
Mr. D. Srinivas, Adv.
Mr. C. Lakshmanna, Adv.
Mr. Somanatha Padhan, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
Delay condoned.
Signature Not VerifiedLearned counsel who has entered caveat on behalf of Digitally signed by Rajni Mukhi Date: 2023.01.27 respondent Nos. 1 to 14 undertakes to appear for the remaining 17:00:51 IST Reason:
respondents as well. If vakalatnama be filed in the Registry, the 1 Diary No. 41984/2022 Registry shall accept the same and take it on record notwithstanding the instant petition will not remain pending pursuant to this order.
Heard learned Additional Solicitor General for the petitioners and learned counsel for the respondents. The matter lies in the narrow compass inasmuch as the petitioners are assailing the order dated 25.07.2022 passed by the High court whereby the High court has restored the contempt proceedings before the Central Administrative Tribunal (for short `CAT’) by setting aside the order dated 16.02.2022 whereby the contempt proceedings has been closed by the CAT.
The contempt proceedings is initiated by the respondents to implement the earlier order of CAT dated 05.04.2019. Against the said order, it is not in dispute that the petitioners herein have filed Writ Petition No. 13797 of 2019 which is pending consideration before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amrawati. Since in the said proceedings the interim stay of the order dated 05.04.2019 has not been granted in absolute terms, the contempt proceedings have been restored.
In a matter of the present nature, we are of the opinion that when the challenge to the main order regarding which the implementation is sought is pending before the High Court, the appropriate course would be to consider the correctness or otherwise the order passed by the CAT on 05.04.2019 and based on the decision appropriate action be taken thereafter. In that view, 2 Diary No. 41984/2022 the restoration of the contempt proceedings at this stage would not be appropriate nor justified.
Hence, the order dated 25.07.2022 impugned herein is set aside. The parties are granted liberty to seek early disposal of Writ Petition No. 13797 of 2019 pending before the High Court and if such application is filed for early hearing, we request the High Court to take note of the same and dispose of the petition one way or other in accordance with law, as expeditiously as possible. The special leave petition is, accordingly, disposed of. Pending application(s) shall also stand disposed of.
(RAJNI MUKHI) (DIPTI KHURANA)
COURT MASTER (SH) ASSISTANT REGISTRAR
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