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The right of appeal will be available under sub-section (1) of section 19 only against any decision or order of a High Court passed in the exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt. In this connection, it is pertinent to refer to the provision of Article 215 of the Constitution which provides that every High Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself. Article 215 confers on the High Court the power to punish for contempt of itself. In other words, the High Court derives its jurisdiction to punish for contempt from Article 215 of the Constitution. As has been noticed earlier, an appeal will lie under section 19(1) of the Act only when the High Court makes an order or decision in exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt. It is submitted on behalf of the respondent and, in our opinion rightly, that the High Court exercises its jurisdiction or power as conferred on it by Article 215 of the Constitution when it imposes a punishment for contempt. When the High Court does not impose any punishment on the alleged contemnor, the High Court does not exercise its jurisdiction or power to punish for contempt. The jurisdiction of the High Court is to punish. When no punishment is imposed by the High Court, it is difficult to say that the High Court has exercised its jurisdiction or power as conferred on it by Article 215 of the Constitution.
It is, however, strenuously urged by Mr. R.K. Garg, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant, that when the High Court acquits a contemnor after hearing the parties and after considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the High Court does so also in the exercise of its jurisdiction as conferred by Article 215 of the Constitution. Counsel submits that jurisdiction to punish for contempt includes also the jurisdiction to dispose of the case either by punishing the contemnor or by acquitting him. In support of the contention much reliance has been placed on behalf of the appellant on a decision of this Court in Smt. Ujjam Bai v. State of Uttar Pradesh, [1963] 1 SCR 778 wherein S.K. Das, J. observed "jurisdiction means authority to decide." Relying upon the said observation it is submitted by Mr. Garg that the jurisdiction of the High Court to punish for contempt also includes the jurisdiction to decide whether such punishment should be imposed or not and when the High Court comes to the finding that such punishment should not be imposed on the contemnor or that no contempt has been committed by the alleged contemnor and acquits him, such decision of the High Court acquitting the contemnor is made in the exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt. We are unable to accept this contention. The said observation, in our opinion, should not be read dehors the context in which it was made. In that case, the Sales Tax Officer disallowed the claim of the petitioner to exemption from payment of Sales Tax under a certain notification. An appeal preferred by the petitioner to the Court of the Judge (Appeals), Sales Tax, Allahabad, was dismissed. The question that came up for consideration before this Court was whether a writ of certiorari could be issued for quashing the order of Assessment on the ground that the authority concerned had erroneously exercised its jurisdiction by not granting exemption to the petitioner. In that context the said observations was made and which was immediately followed by further observation:
There can be no doubt that whenever a court, tribunal or authority is vested with a jurisdiction to decide a matter, such jurisdiction can be exercised in deciding the matter in favour or against a person. For example, a civil court is conferred with the jurisdiction to decide a suit; the civil court will have undoubtedly the jurisdiction to decree the suit or dismiss the same. But when a court is conferred with the power or jurisdiction to act in a particular manner, the exercise of jurisdiction or the power will involve the acting in that particular manner and in no other. Article 215 confers jurisdiction or power on the High Court to punish for contempt. The High Court can exercise its jurisdiction only by punishing for contempt. It is true that in considering a question whether the alleged contemnor is guilty of contempt or not, the court hears the parties and considers the materials produced before it and, if necessary, examines witnesses and, thereafter, passes an order either acquitting or punishing him for contempt. When the High Court acquits the contemnor, the High Court does not exercise its jurisdic-
Right of appeal is a creature of the statute and the question whether there is a right of appeal or not will have to be considered on an interpretation of the provision of the statute and not on the ground of porpriety or any other consideration. In this connection, it may be noticed that there was no right of appeal under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1952. It is for the first time that under section 19(1) of the Act, a right of appeal has been provided for. A contempt is a matter between the court and the alleged contemnor. Any person who moves the machinery of the court for contempt only brings to the notice of the court certain facts constituting contempt of court. After furnishing such information he may still assist the court, but it must always be borne in mind that in a contempt proceeding there are only two parties, namely, the court and the contemnor. It may be one of the reasons which weighed with the Legislature in not conferring any right of appeal on the petitioner for contempt. The aggrieved party under section 19(1) can only be the contemnor who has been punished for contempt of court.