THREE CHEERS ENTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD. & ORS. v. C.E.S.C. LTD

Citation: [2008] 14 S.C.R. 789

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: S.B. SINHA, CYRIAC JOSEPH

Case summary

THREE CHEERS ENTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD. & ORS. v. C.E.S.C. LTD.pdf

Judgment text

[2008] 14 S. C. R. 789 ~ THREE CHEERS ENTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD. & ORS. II. C. E. S. C. LTD. (Civil Appeal No. 6156 of 2008) OCTOBER 20, 2008 r- _)- [S. B. SINHA AND CYRIAC JOSEPH, JJ. ] Contempt of Courts Act, 1970/Contempt of Courts (Calcutta High Court) Rules, 1975- Interlocutory orderof Court restraining the defendant in a defamation suit from telecasting and broadcasting a programme which allegedly defamed the plaintiff - On the date of confirmation of the order, Joint Receivers appointed ex parte - Direction to them to take passession of materials pertaining to the programme - Defendants not handing over the materials to the Joint Receivers, stating that they had already given the same to the officials of - . _. ,. ,..

, plaintiff - The fact affirmed on affidavit before Court - Trialdirected to find out the correctness of the statement of the defendants - During pendency of trial, initiation of Contempt proceedings - Defendants held guilty of Contempt of Court - On appeal held: In the facts of the case, defendants not guilty of contempt - Contemners did not violate the interim order passed by the High Court - There was no basis for appointment of Joint Receivers - Moreover, appointment of the Receives, without notice to the contemners was not correct - lnit \ tiation of contempt proceedings without conclusion of the trial to find the correctness of the facts on the basis of which contempt was initiated was also not correct - Contempt proceedings dropped. A programme produced by appellant-company was ·~ telecast on television, alleging some illegal acts and malpractices on the part of respondent-Calcutta Electricity Supply Company Ltd. (CESC). Respondent filed a defamation suit before High Court.

It also sought interlocu- ~tory injunction restraining the appellants from publishing by broadcasting/telecasting any defamation suit before High Court. It also sought interlocutory injunction restrain. ; ing the appellants from publishing by broadcasting/tele- I casting any defamatory programme similar to the one in f question and to restrain them from re-telecasting and t: showing a repeat telecast of the programme. Third interim • -l_, relief was sought to appoint a receiver over all the materi- ' als and documents connected with the programme in ~ question. Single Judge of High Court on 17. 5. 2004 passed ex-pate ad interim order of injunction in terms of the first two prayers. On 30. 11. 2005, when the matter came up for ~ confirmation of the interim order, the court in terms of the I third prayer of the application, appointed Joint/Receivers ! -- I with a direction to take possession of all material documents, films and materials connected with the programme r- 1. rin question.

The Joint/Receivers, on 14. 1. 2008, when visited the office of the appellants and asked to hand over ----r· the documents and the materials, appellants expressed I [_ their inability to do so stating that such documents had already been handed over to the representatives of CESC when they had come to the office of the Company on I:: 11. 1. 2006. Minutes of Meeting pertaining to the visit were submitted before the Court. Appellant No. 3 too affirmed on affidavit as regards the events on 11. 1. 2006. The Court by its order dated 15. 3. 2006 directed trial on the issues whether the CESC officials visited the office of the appel- ~-A,. ' lants and whether the documents and materials connected with the programme in question were actually ,handed over to CESC officials. While the trial on the above issues was pending before another Judge, respondents initiated contempt proceedings before the Judge who had passed the order dated 30. 11. 2005.

Each one of the con- ~-· temners was held guilty of contempt of court for not handing over the documents and materials to the Joint Receivers. The appeal against the order was dismissed by Division Bench of High Court. Hence the present appeal. During pendency of appeal before this court, appel- * lant, in the proceedings before High Court, undertook to produce the CDs containing the programme in compliance of the interim order. The Court imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000/- on each of the contemner. On the next day of hearing, the case was further postponed for non-compliance of the order. 1' ). Allowing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1. 1 The facts and materials of the instant case, do not establish that there was any willful disobedience or contumacious conduct on the part of the appellant.

Appellants are charged with commission of contempt of the High Court on two counts that : (1) they did not hand over the materials to the Joint Receivers; and (2) they affirmed a false affidavit regarding the events on 11. 1. 2006. The High Court failed to notice that Single Judge of the .. High Court passed an interim order only in terms of i ---r prayers (a) and (b) of the interlocutory application. It is not a case of the respondent that the appellants have violated the terms of the said ex parte ad interim order. [Para 27] [806-F-G] 1. 2 There was no basis to appoint the Joint Receivers. No prayer was made therefor on the said date. No application was filed. The matter was placed before the Single Judge only for confirmation of the ad interim order f; . )(' passed and not for deciding on the prayer (c) concerned. A bare perusal of the said order would clearly indicate that even a prima facie finding had not been arrived at warranting appointment of receiver.

No reason has been assigned in support thereof. No jurisdictional fact that it was just and proper to appoint a receiver as is required under A . , Order XL Rule 1 CPC was recorded far less why the same was found to be necessary and emergent. In any event, a show-cause notice at the first instance should have been issued. [Para 29] [807-C-E] 2. 1 The Single Judge of High Court himself had noticed that the appellants were not represented on date ~ when the order appointing Receivers was passed. In the aforementioned premise, it was obligatory on the part of the respondents and/or the High Court itself to communicate the said order to the appellants. The High Court appears to have proceeded. on the presumption that the appellants were aware thereof despite a categorical stand taken by respondent itself that the said order had not been -l.. , served. Even the High Court did not communicate the order to the appellant which course ordinarily should have been resorted to.

[Paras 27 and 28] [806-G-H; 807-A-B] 2. 2 The Court even did not bother to see that the order of the court was intimated to the appellants. Why the order dated 30. 11. 2005 was not made known to the appellants till 10. 1. 2006 is baffling and despite the same it was observed that the said order was within the specific knowledge of the appellants. [Para 33] [809-H; 810-A] "! - - 3. 1 The proceedings started on the basis of the minutes of meeting dated 14. 1. 2006 presented by the Joint Receivers before the High Court. The enquiry was directed for the purpose of finding out as to whether the CECS officials had· indeed visited the office of the Company on 11. 1. 2006 and whether the CDs and cassettes had been handed over to its officials or not. It may be a step for initiation of a contempt proceeding but such a trial was being conducted for the purpose of finding out the truth as "'\ "'! -. to whether the court's order dated 30. 11. 2005 had, in fact, been violated or not.

If the trial had begun with a view to find as to whether the statemen~ of the appellant that he had handed over the materials to the CECS officials was correct or not, another proceeding should not have been initiated simultaneously befo. re another Judge. [Paras 31 ....... __. _,I • and 34] [807-G-H; 808~A; 810-C] Mrityunjoy Das and Anr v. Sayed Hasibur Rahman and Ors. 2001 (3) SCC 739; Chhotu Ram v. Urvashi Gulati and Anr. 2001 (7) SCC 530; Anil Ratan Sarkar and Ors. v. Hirak Ghosh and Ors. 2002 (4) SCC 21; Dr Prodip Kumar Biswas v. Subrata Das and Ors. 2004 (4) SCC 573; Sushi/a Raje Holkar v. Anil Kak (Retd. ) 2008 (7) SCALE 484 - relied on. 8 3. 2 When the trial was incomplete, there was no reason to hear the contempt proceeding on affidavits. Even f ) if that was done, reliance was sought to be placed on the. depositions of the witnesses in the said enquiry, which was admittedly incomplete.

Witnesses affirming affidavits before the Single Judge were not being cross-examined so as to enable the counsel for the parties to draw their attention to the earlier statement made by them in terms of Section 145 of the Evidence Act. [Para 31] [808-D-E] 4. The purpose and object of initiation of a proceed- 0 ing under the provisions of Contempt of Courts Act is only to see that the order of the Court is complied with and not to unnecessarily proceed against persons as if they are petty criminals. [Para 33] [809-E] . - 5. Imposition of Rs. 10,000/- upon the appellants is also not justified. No provision in the Act or any precedent have been shown that a court may impose sentences upon the contemnors in piece meal. [Para 36] [812-G] 6.

As orders of injunctions in terms of Prayer (a) and (b) are in operation and CDs are already in possession of the Court, in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India it is directed that the contempt proceedings itself be dropped. The amount of fine deposited by the appellants should be refunded by the High Court forthwith. [Para 38] [813-D] CASE LAW REFERENCE 2001 (3) SCC 739 Relied on. Para 34 2001 (7) sec s30 Relied on. Para 34 'I 2002 (4) sec 21 Relied on. Para 34 2004 (4) sec 573 Relied on. Para 34 2008 (7) SCALE 484 Relied on. Para 34 CIVILAPPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 6156 of 2008 From the final Judgment and Order dated 22. 7. 2008 of the High Court at Calcutta in A. P. O. No. 163 of 2008 in APOT NO. 125 of 2008 in CC No. 147 of 2006 in GA No. 1812 of 2004 in CS NO. 126 of 2004 Gourab Banerji, Saurav Agrawal, A. Krishnan, Gautam Jha, T. M. Singh and Manik Karanjawala for the Appellants. > L. N. Rao, K. V.

Viswanathan, Abhinesh Menon, Kumar Mihir and Sanjay Kumar (for Mis. Khaitan & Co. ) for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by S. B. SINHA, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. Appellants are before us aggrieved by and dissatisfied with a judgment and order passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Calcutta dismissing their appeal under Section 19(1) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1970 (for short, 'the Act') and holding them guilty ot violation of the Court's order dated 31. 11. 2005 passed by a learned Single Judge of the said Court. 3. Three Cheers Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (the Company) is a producer of some programmes which are telecast. 4. One of such programmes known as 'Khoj Khabar' was telecast by ETV (Bangla) alleging some illegal acts and malpractices on the part of the Calcutta Electricity Supply Company Ltd. , (CESC) an undertaking engaged in generation and supply of Electricity in the town of Calcutta. 5. On or about 13. 5.

2004, CESC filed a defamation suit ~- in the original side of the Calcutta High Court claiming not only damages of 25,00,00,000/- (Rupees twenty five crores only) but also a decree for permanent injunction. Along with the said suit, an interlocutory application marked as G. A. 1812 of 2004 was filed claiming, inter alia, the following reliefs: "a. Injunction be passed restraining the respondents and each one of them by themselves or by their servants, .. J agents or otherwise from publishing or causing to be published by broadcasting/ telecasting any defamatory programmes similar to that as telecast on March 12, 2004 and March 29, 2004 and April 30, 2004 contained in Annexure A and B hereto or otherwise in any manner whatsoever. b.

The respondents be restrained from re-telecasting and/or showing a repeat telecast of the programme 'khoj khabar' shown on March, 12, 2004 and March 29, 2004 and April 30, 2004 at 10 pm and the -"I Judge of the High Court passed an ex parte ad interim order of injunction in terms of prayer 'a' and 'b' thereof only. 7. It is now not disputed that although some lawyer had appeared for the appellants in the said suit but no 'Vakalatnama' on their behalf was filed. It is furthermore not in dispute that the ...... said lawyer appeared for a few days and thereafter stopped / appearing in the suit or in the said interlocutory matter. 8. Notices having been served upon the appellents, the matter relating to confirmation of ad interim order of injunction ~ came up before the learned Single Judge of the High Court on 30. 11. 2005.

While noticing that the defendants in the suit had not opposed the prayers of injunction, although they were earlier represented through counsel, it was opined that apart from the order of interim injunction as prayed for in prayers 'a' and 'b' of the interlocutory application, a receiver should also be appointed, holding : .. *• "Having regard to the nature of the matter, I think the order of injunction will not subserve the interest of justice as there is possibility to telecast the same from programme recorded in this disc by the defendants and/or their agents and/or servants. In order to prevent further telecasting. or propagating of this slanderous statement I am inclind to pass order in terms of prayer (c) ofthe petition. Accordingly, Mr. Subrata Mookherjee, Advocate of bar Association, Room No. 1 and Mr. Partha Pratim Chatterjee, Advocate of Bar Association, Room No. 2 High Court are appointed .. ; -:. ;.

as Joint Receivers with a direction to take possession of all material documents, films and materials connected with the said programme. "Khoj Khabar' telecast on 12th March, 2004, 29th March, 2004 and 30th April, 2004 at 10. 00 pm and also copies of CD, if they are available in that office. The Receiver shall make an enquiry as to whether these ~ ; cassettes have been distributed to any other person or persons and to whom and the person in charge and/or the director of the first defendant, are directed to disclose by ~ )'. making a statement before the Receiver whether any copy of CD has been distributd to any other person or persons in any manner whatsoever or not. This matter is otherwise disposed of. " 9. The learned receivers who were supposed to have taken . J.. prompt action failed and/or neglected do so.

They did not visit ,the office of the company for taking possession of the relevant -documents and the DV (wrongly stated in the order as CDs) immediately after the said order was passed. It is stated at the Bar that the time for filing a report was extended. ~ 10. Appellants, however, contend that on 11. 1. 2006 some representatives of CECS visited their office and asked them to handover all materials connected with the telecast. They were allegedly threatened that if the materials were not handed over, they would be in contempt. 11. This stand on the part of the appellant is, however, de- •- A nied and disputed by CESC. It now stands admitted that a copy of the said order was . ' not s~rved on the appellants. No copy of the order was sent to them by the respondent. Even the learned Joint Receivers did not intimate the ap. pellant about their appointment. 12. The Joint Receivers appointed by the High Court, however, visited ths office of the appellant on 14. 1. 2006.

They asked the appellants to hand over all the documents and CDs. As according to the appellants such documents had already been .... handed over to the representatives of the CESC, they expressed ytheir inability to do so. Minutes of meeting were recorded which are to the following terms : "In terms of the Hon'ble Courts order, we approached Mr. Sanat Ray to handover the materials documents films connected with the said programme telecast on 12. 03. 2004, 29. 03. 2004, 30. 04. 2004 at 10 am and also the copies of the CDs and also enquired Mr. Ray regarding the CD whether the has or his representative has been . .. distributed to any other person or persons in any manner. We Joint receivers asked Mr. Ray to hand over the CDs, films and materials for the above dates. Mr. S. Ray submits that they never telecast any news through CD, they used ~o telecast through Cassettes (DV). -; • Mr. Ray further submits that they used to show the news programme by DV Cassette only.

Not by any film or CD and they. did not have any films or documents or master CD or Cassettes with him nor did he hand over did he has hand over to any one. All of us were taken to the Cassette Library by Mr. Ray, we * thoroughly checked each cassette and films and other documents in the said cassette Library Rooms. In presence of the abovenamed person we did not find any CD of the above dates, films, documents and cassettes. We have collected a new sealed cassette from the rack of the cassette Library. It has been submitted by Mr. Ray that. they used to telecast their daily programme through such ~ . cassettes. ;, We the Joint Receivers tried our best to get the CD and Cassettes, documents and films from Khoj Khabar Office in presence of the plaintiff and their representative but found nothing. Mr. Ray further submits that on 11th January 2006 a group of four persons who identified themselves as officers of CESC and staff of Court came to Mr.

Ray, and after showing the Order of the Court dated 30. 11. 2005 took away the .. Cassettes as Mr. Ray was perturbed he could not collect ~ the names of the persons and record their identity. This has been done in presence of some stat of Khoj Khabar namely: 1. Mr. Shankar Saha who maintains the daily telecast Register. 2. Mr. Ratan Das who maintains the Car records. 3. Mr. Rabi Shankar Saha, Assistant of Ratan Das, and )i. • 4. Mr. Sambhu Ghosh, Chief Cameraman. However, Mr. Samar Ray lastly stated that he could recognize those aforesaid persons if he finds them. " ,... __ 13. The matter was placed before the learned Single Judge 4 on 18. 1. 2006. In view of the aforementioned minutes of meeting, appellant No. 3 herein (Sanat Kumar Ray) was asked to affirm an affidavit as regards the events which purported to have taken place on 11. 1. 2006. An affidavit was affirmed. ~- 14.

In view of the said affidavit, vis-a-vis, the minutes of meeting prepared by the learned receivers and the stand taken by the respondent company herein, trial was ordered on the following issues by the learned Single Judge in terms of an order dated 15. 3. 2006 : "1. Whether any CECS official visited the office of Three Cheers Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. as alleged in ~ ,. J paragraph 6 or not? 2. Whether material documents and material connected with the programme Khoj Khabar and CDs and cassettes were handed over by the said deponent, Sanat Ray CESC officials on 11 January, 2006? " 15. It is not in dispute now that having regard to the change in determination, the trial has begun before another learned Single Judge on and from 9. 6. 2006 and the same is yet to be completed. •, y 16.

The contempt matter, however, keeping in view the provisions contained in Rule 5 and 6 of the Contempt of Courts (Calcutta High Court) Rules, 1975 was placed before the learned Single Judge who had passed the order dated 30. 11. 2005. 17. The learned Judge proceeded to hear the contempt matter on affidavits filed by the parties although the trial on the aforementioned issues was incomplete. 18. Each one of the alleged contemnors was held guilty of " ·-; contempt of court on the premise that they have violated the directions issued to them to hand over the documents and DVD Cassettes and other materials to the Joint Receiver. 19. Before taking note of the findings of the learned Judge, we may notice that in the contempt proceedings, the appellants, .. inter alia, raised the following contentions : "After examination and cross examination were over on the aforesaid issues the present application for contempt has been taken out on 25th of September, 2006. I am told ...

' "]l: that issue has not been decided nor there is fact findings as to whereabouts of the DV (mother) cassettes. The present application has been made for willful and deliberate violation of the order passed by this Court on 30th November 2005 by not handing over DV (mother) 8 cassettes and other materials to the joint Receivers. " 20. The plea of the appellants, therefore, was that even if -\. _ \ they had committed an error in handing over the material and DV to the representative of the CESC rather than the joint receivers, it was a bona fide one. They tendered unconditional apology therefor. The learned Single Judge, however, as regards the plea of the Director of the Company held : "In my view he should not have left Calcutta until the order was carried out or if he had any urgent business he should have approached this Court and asked for time for carrying +x out order.

From analysis as above it no doubt establishes his deliberate and willful violation of the order of the Court. Therefore, I hold him guilty for committing contempt of the court as the DV (mother) cassettes were not handed over to the Joint Receivers. " As regards, Shri Sanat Ray, it was opined : "While examining the stand taken by the respondent No. 4, I found that he is an over smart person and he has made - . ~ alleged contempt of court could not have been imposed without waiting for a finding of fact thereupon. (2) In view of the terms of the order dated 30. 11 . 2005 as CDs, materials and documents were to be handed over to the Joint Receivers, only if they were available with them and as they were not available on 14. 1. 2006, appellants cannot be said to have committed contempt of the order of the learned Single Judge dated 30. 11. 2005. _,,, (3) The purpose and object of the order passed by the High Court, as would appear from the Orders dated 17. 5. 2004 and 30. 11.

2004 being to restrain the broadcast of the programme 'Khoj Khabar' and in view of the admitted fact that there has been no subsequent telecast of the programme and, thus, the order of injunction having been complied with, the judgment of conviction passed against the appellants is wholly unsustainable, particularly when -- I judgment. It was contended that although the categorical stand taken by the contemnors-respondents before the learned Single Judge was that no DV Cassettes were available with them when 'J.. , -' I I the Joint Receiver visited their office on 14. 1. 2006, they pur- Iported to produce the same before the learned Single Judge. on 29. 8. 2008, which were not the original CDs, it has rightly ~ been found that misrepresentations had been made at all levl els by the alleged contemnors and, thus, this Court should not ~ exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the L Constitution of India. \- 26.

Civil contempt has been defined in Section 2(a) of the Act to mean: l-,. ~ "b) 'civil contempt' means wilful disobedience to any judgement, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court;" ~ 27. Herein appellants are charged with commission of conr tempt of the High Court on two counts that: (1) they did not hand ,--- ' . over the materials to the Joint Receiver; and (2) they affirmed a ·false affidavit regarding the events on 11. 1. 2006. ' J f'- >: The High Court failed to notice that a learned Single Judge of the High Court passed an interim order only in terms of 1 tprayers 'a' and 'b'. It is not a case of the respondent that the I- appellants have violated the terms of the said ex parte ad in- I I terim order. Assuming that some lawyer had appeared on be- i )half of the respondents on earlier dates, the learned Judge him- _A-- ..

self had noticed that the appellants were not represented on date when the order appointing Receiver was passed. I- I >- 28. In the aforementioned premise, it was obligatory on THREE CHEERS Ef\JTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD. 807 -0( the part of the respondents and/or the High Court itself to communicate the said order to the appellants. The High Court appears to have proceeded on the presumption that the appel- ! ants were aware thereof despite a categorical stand taken by respondent itself that the said order had not been served. We do not find from the judgment of the learned Single Judge that 8 ,> -I: even the High Court communicated the order to the appellant which course ordinarily should have been resorted to. 29. We fail to understand as to on what basis, the Joint Receivers were appointed. No prayer was made therefor on the said date. No application was filed.

The matter was placed before the learned Single Judge only for confirmation of the ad interim order passed and not for deciding on the prayer (c) concerned. A bare perusal of the said order would clearly indicate that even a prima facie finding had not been arrived at warranting appointment of receiver. No reason has been assigned in -;o--' support thereof. No jurisdictional fact that it was just and proper to appoint a receiver as is required under Order XL Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure was recorded far less why the same was found to be necessary and emergent. In any event, a showcause notice at the first instance should have been issued. 30. When the receivers were appointed, no question arose to issue any direction upon the appellants. In fact, no such direction had been issued asking them to hand over all documents, papers and CDs. -I 31. Mr. Rao, on a querry made by us contended that the issues were framed on 15. 3. 2006 in the main suit.

The said contention does not appear to be correct. The proceedings started only on the basis of the minutes of meeting dated 14. 1. 2006 presented by the Joint Receivers before the High . '1- Court. The enquiiy was directed for the purpose of finding out ~ as to whether the CECS officials had indeed visited the office of the company on 11. 1. 2006 and whether the CDs and cas.. : settes had been handed over by the said Shri Sanat Ray to its officials or not. It may be a step for initiation of a contempt pro- ')(:ceeding but such a trial was being conducted for the purpose of finding out the truth as to whether the court's order dated 30. 11. 2005 had, in fact, been violated or not. If a finding of fact was necessary to be arrived as for ascertaining as to whether the contemnors-respondents have violated the order of the court, it is difficult to comprehend why the trial was not allowed to be completed. ,' ~. •. Indisputably, the majesty of the Court is required to be upheld.

The Court must see that its orders are complied with. But l ' for the said purpose, a roving enquiry is not permissible. Several proceedings which seek to achieve the same purpose are unknown to the process of law. If the trial was to be held on the issues framed by the learned Single Judge, it should have been allowed to be brought to its logical conclusion. When the trial was incomplete, we fail to see any reason why the contempt proceeding was heard on affidavits. Even if that was done, reliance was sought to be placed on the depositions of the wit- ~ nesses in the said enquiry, which was admittedly incomplete. Witnesses affirming affidavits before the learned Single Judge were not being cross-examined so as to enable the counsel for the parties to draw their attention to the earlier statement made by them in terms of Section 145 of the Evidence Act. r ;. 32.

On what basis comments against Sanat Rai were made that he was 'over smart person' although he did not ex- ~ amine himself before the learned Single Judge is not known. It y· will bear repetition to state that on the one hand the witnesses in support of the said statement of the said Shri Sanat Ray was yet to be examined in the trial and on the other hand the learned Judge commented that his testimony remained uncorroborated. Attention of the learned Judge furthermore was not drawn to the Question No. 25 which was put to Shri Aditya Goswami who ex- . Jr- ' '('. """ amined himself on behalf of CECS and Question No. 20 put to Shri Anil Chatterjee, which are as under: "25. As regards incident dated 11. 1. 2006 when it has been said by the defendant that CESC personnel took away ~ the cassettes from their office - what is your comment about the same? Actually, I am the dealing officer, I was entrusted with this case.

I know that I am the only one who is entrusted so I know the fact, except myself nodbody would possibly visit the office of the Three Cheers Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and > ~ furthermore on 11. 1. 2006 it was the holiday under the NI Act on account of ld-ul-Juha. CESC office was closed on that date. xxx xxx xxx 20. Can you say on authority that on 11th January, 2006 none from the CESC office went to the office of the defendant? I can say upto where my knowledge goes nothing beyond that. " ~ 33. The Division Bench of the High Court, unfortunately, did not bestow its consideration on these vital aspects of the matter. No sufficient or cogent reason has been a~signed therein. The purpose and object of initiation of a proce'eding under the provisions of the said Act is only to see that the order of the Court is complied with and not to unnecessarily proceed against persons as if they are petty criminals.

We are pained to notice /{ that even the Director of the company who was not in town was hauled up for contempt opining that he should not have left Calcutta until the order was carried out or if he had any urgent business, he should have approached the court and asked for time for carrying out the ord~r. We have noticed hereinbefore that the learned Judge proceeded on the basis that the appel- - -+--- ,.. ,. lants were directed to hand over the materials, documents, film scripts and materials connected with the telecast 'Khoj Khabar';, it was not so. We have furthermore noticed hereinbefore that the Court even did not bother to see that the order of the court was intimated to the appellants. Why the order dated 30. 11. 2005 '"') ...

i, disobedience of an order may not be sufficient to amount to a 'civil contempt' within the meaning of Section 2(b) of the Act of 1971 - the element of willingness is an indispensable requirement to bring home the charge within the meaning of the Act and lastly, in the event two interpretations are possible and the action of the alleged c0ntemnor pertains to one such interpretation - the act or acts cannot be ascribed to be otherwise contumacious in nature. A doubt in the matter as regards the willful nature of the conduct if raised, question of success in a contempt petition would not arise. " -~ In Dr. Prodip Kumar Biswas v. Subrata Oas & Ors. [(2004) (4) SCC 573], after noticing various provisions of the Calcutta High Court Rules held : "The Court may, however, in a contempt proceeding take such evidence as may be considered necessary. Admittedly, rule nisi was not drawn up.

In fact, it seems that neither was any notice of contempt issued to the appellant nor any hearing took place except what has been .. 7 noticed hereinbefore. The contempt of court is a special jurisdiction to be exercised sparingly and with caution whenever an act adversely affects the administration of justice or which tends to impede its course or tends to shake public confidence in the judicial institutions. This jurisdiction may ... • also be exercised when the act complained of adversely affects the majesty of law or dignity of the courts. The purpose of contempt jurisdiction is to uphold the majesty ::;). (and dignity of the courts of law. (See Supreme Court Bar Assn. v. Union of India). " Recently in Sushi/a Raje Holkar v. Anil Kak (Retd. ) [2008 (7) SCALE 484], this Court held : "It is a well settled principle of law that if two interpretations are possible of the order which is ambiguous, a contempt proceeding would not be maintainable. " )-, - ! 'should have been rejected.

We also do not appreciate ttiat a fine of Rs. 10,000/- was imposed upon the appellants by an order dated 22. 8. 2008 'for the time being'. We have not been shown any provision in the Act or any precedent that a court may impose sentences upon ~ the contemnors in piece meal. ... So far as the submission of Mr. Rao that original cassettes have not been produced is concerned, we must notice that what was produced by the appellants was the CDs taken from (ETV -)/( Bangla). What has been produced before the learned Single 1 Judge on 29 h August were not the DV Cassettes which Sanat Rai stated to have been parted with on 11. 1. 2006. 37. For the reasons aforementioned, the impugned judg- 8 ment cannot be sustained. It is set aside. Consequently, the orders dated 30. 11. 2005 and 22. 8. 2008 are also set aside. ~ _,,1, The High Court, in our opinion, would be well advised to take up hearing of the suit as expeditiously as possible.

If notice of suit has not been served upon the company, it may be done forthwith. The company may file its written statement, if not already done, within three weeks from the date. 38. As ord~rs of injunctions in terms of Prayer 'a' and 'b' are in operation and CDs are already in possession of the court, we in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Con- 0 stitution of India direct that the contempt proceedings itself be dropped. The amount of fine deposited by the appellants should be refunded by the High Court forthwith. 39. The appeal is allowed with the aforementioned directions with costs payable by Respondent No. 1 to the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority, Calcutta. Counsel's fee assessed at Rs. 1,00,000/-. K. K. T. Appeal allowed