HC warns bureaucrats that complying with court orders after receiving contempt notice won’t absolve them of contempt charges

Chennai:

Madras High Court has warned bureaucrats that complying with court orders after receiving contempt notice won’t absolve them of contempt charges.

The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice K K Sasidharan passed this order recently on a contempt petition filed by A Baby Uma against the then home secretary Rajagopalan, Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board chairman Vibhakar Sharma and DGP K Ramanujam.

The judges said that once a bureaucrat commits contempt of court by violating court orders, and receives contempt notice too, then even if he complies with the court order it would not automatically absolve him of contempt charges.

The petitioner Uma was selected for sub inspector post but was not given appointment order stating that discreet enquiries revealed her conduct was not satisfactory. Uma challenged the order and despite a single judge ruled in her favour, authorities refused to appoint her stating the selection had been finalised.

Surprisingly, even a division bench too passed a similar order in November 2012 directing the director-general of police to issue an order of appointment to Uma on or before December 31, 2012.

A year later on December 18, 2013, the government advocate informed the court that she would be sent to training after the next recruitment that is yet to be notified. The judges then directed the three officers to be present in court on December 20, 2013 to report compliance of their earlier order on appointment and training for Uma.

The DGP then issued appointment orders dated December 18, 2013 resulting in the judges closing contempt petition with a warning that compliance of the order after the contempt was initiated would not automatically absolve the contemnors.