Bombay High Court
Leena Shamji Maru And 2 Others vs B Y L Nair Hospital And 4 Ors on 28 November, 2019
Bench: S. J. Kathawalla, B. P. Colabawalla
915.conpwl.113.2019.doc
Dik - Nitin
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
CONTEMPT PETITION (L) NO. 113 OF 2019
IN
WRIT PETITION NO. 2652 OF 2018
Leena Shamji Maru & Ors. ...Petitioners
vs
B.Y.L.Nair Hospital & Ors. ...Respondents
.....
Mr. Pheroze Mehta a/w Ms Suchita Uddal i/b Hariani & Co. for the Petitioner s
Mr. J. Reis, Sr. Advocate a/w Ms Yamuna Parekh for the Respondent/M.C.G.M.
Mr Himanshu Takke AGP for the Respondent/ State.
.....
CORAM : S. J. KATHAWALLA &
B. P. COLABAWALLA, JJ.
DATE 28 NOVEMBER, 2019.
P.C. :
1. On 17th September, 2019, the Division Bench of this Court passed an order in the above Writ Petition. Paragraph 21 of which is reproduced hereunder :
"21. Considering such factors, respondent Nos.1 and 2 shall release interim compensation in favour of the petitioners to the tune of Rs.10 Lakhs to be paid within six weeks from today. This amount when paid to the petitioners would be invested in a nationalised bank in a recurring fxed deposit for a period of fve years. Petitioner Nos.2 and 3 would be entitled to receive periodic interest accrued thereon. Any of the petitioners shall within a period of one month from the receipt of amount in question shall fle an affidavit that the fxed deposit has been so taken out.p
2. The Municipal Corporation preferred a Special Leave Petition (for short "SLP") before the Supreme Court of India, being SLP (C) No. 27695 of 2019. In the said SLP, following order is passed.
" The special leave petition having been fled against an interim order passed by the Pg 1 of 3 ::: Uploaded on - 30/11/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 30/11/2019 20:53:12 :::
915.conpwl.113.2019.doc High Court, we are not inclined to entertain the special leave petition.
The special leave petition is accordingly dismissed.
Mr. A.N.S.Nadkarni, learned ASG submits that the amount of Rs.10 Lacs, as per the judgment of the High Court, has already been deposited before senior master of the Court. He submits that the petitioners pray that the amount of interest, which shall accrue on the said deposit, shall be paid to the respondents herein (the original petitioners in the writ petition) without prejudice to their rights in the pending writ petition. We give liberty to the petitioners to make an appropriate application before the High Court which may be considered and order be passed. We make it clear that it is for the High Court to consider the matter and take an appropriate decision in accordance with law. We, however, observe that the writ petition be decided without being influenced by any of the observations made in the impugned judgment.
Mr. Nadkarni submits that the contempt proceedings had already been initiated. We, observe that till the application of the petitioners with regard to which liberty has been granted, is fnally decided, the contempt proceedings be not proceeded any further.p
3. The learned Advocate appearing for the Municipal Corporation states that the Court may retain the amount of Rs.10 Lacs deposited in Court and direct the Prothonotary and Senior Master to invest the same and pay interest accrued thereon from time to time to the Petitioners. If the suggestion of the Corporation is accepted, the same will burden the ofce of the Prothonotary, which is already overburdened, and will also cause inconvenience to the Petitioners in as much as the Petitioners will have to visit the ofce of the Prothonotary to collect the interest amounts from time to time. We therefore maintain the directions recorded in paragraph 21 of the order dated 17 th September, 2019, with a minor modification that the original Fixed Deposit Receipt issued by the bank to the Petitioners shall be deposited by the Petitioners with the Prothonotary and Senior Pg 2 of 3 ::: Uploaded on - 30/11/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 30/11/2019 20:53:12 :::
915.conpwl.113.2019.doc Master of this Court within two weeks from the date of issue of the same. The Prothonotary shall retain the same in safe custody until further orders of this Court. The Prothonotary is also directed to forthwith handover the sum of Rs.10 Lacs deposited in Court by the Corporation to the Petitioners to enable them to comply with the directions set out in paragraph 21 of the Order dated 17 th September, 2019. The Contempt Petition is accordingly disposed of. The Municipal Corporation is directed to file its Afdavit in Reply to the Writ Petition within a period of two weeks from today.
4 Place the Writ Petition for final hearing / directions on 18 th December, 2019.
(B. P. COLABAWALLA, J.) ( S. J. KATHAWALLA, J. )
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