Once an order is passed on merit, on the basis of
direction issued by the Court, contempt petition would
not be maintainable under Section 12 of the Contempt
of Courts Act.
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
SINGLE BENCH:
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SANJAY K. AGRAWAL
Contempt Case (C) No. 30/2011
COMPLAINANT
(Petitioner)
A.K.Chhibber
Versus
Chairman, Coal India Limited
and others
(CONTEMPT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 215 OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA)
O R D E R
(Passed on 09/12/2014)
Citation;2015 CRLJ1381 Chhatis
1.
This
is
rule
on
two
persons
(respondents/contemnors No. 2 & 3) requiring them to
show cause why they should not be proceeded against
contempt for having disregarded and disobeyed, the
order of this Court passed in Writ Appeal No.135/2009
dated 15/06/2010.
2.
Division Bench of this Court, by its order dated
15/06/2010, while setting aside the order of learned
Single Judge was pleased to direct the respondents
therein namely, Coal India Limited, South Eastern Coal
2
Fields Limited and Director (Personnel I. & R) Coal
India Limited, to consider the case of promotion of
the contempt petitioner with effect from the date when
his juniors were considered for promotion and were
promoted.
3.
It is the case of the contempt petitioner that
pursuant to the order passed by Division Bench of this
Court on 15/06/2010, he communicated the order of this
Court to the contemnors herein by making
representation on 16/08/2010 and prayer was made to
comply the aforestated order. It is further case of
the petitioner herein that in respect of the
representation made by the petitioner, in utter
disregard of the order passed by this Court, his
representation was rejected by the contemnor No. 3
herein by order dated 67/12/2010 and communicated by
contemnor No. 2 herein by memo dated 09/12/2010 to him
and it is further case of the contempt petitioner that
a bare perusal of the aforesaid order would show that
it is clear case of contempt of lawful authority of
this Court.
4.
Invoking contempt jurisdiction of this Court
under Article 215 of the Constitution of India read
with Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971,
in abovestated backgrond contempt petitioner herein
3
has filed this contempt petition alleging that the
respondents particularly contemnors No. 2 & 3 have
not complied the order complained of dated 15/06/2010
in its letter and spirit, and therefore, they be
punished for disregarding and disobeying the order
complained of.
5.
Rule was issued on 15/03/2011 to the contemnor
No. 2 only and thereafter by order dated 13/02/2012,
the time was given to the counsel for the contemnor
No. 2 to file counter affidavit on behalf of the
contemnors No. 1 & 3 also. The counter affidavit has
been filed on behalf of the contemnors herein that the
case of the contempt petitioner has already been
considered in accordance with applicable Service Rules
by competent authority of Coal India Limited i.e.
contemnor No. 3, immediately on receipt of
representation from the petitioner and after
considering
the
same,
the
answering
respondent/contemnor No. 3 has passed a detailed order
holding that petitioner is not entitled for any relief
other than what has already been granted to him, and
as the order complained of has fully and substantially
been complied with, therefore, rule issued against the
contemnors herein deserves to be discharged and
contempt proceeding against them be dropped.
4
6.
Mr. A.K. Chhibber, appearing in person would
submit that order passed by contemnor No. 3 holding
that he is not entitled for promotion from the date on
which the case of Mr. A.K. Shrivastava and Mr. A.K.
Mitra were considered and promoted is wholly illegal
and contrary to the facts and law. He would further
submit that written test was not never conducted and
the finding recorded in the order dated 67/12/2010
(Annexure C6) in that regard is absolutely illegal
therefore, the contemnors herein be punished for
disobedience of order of this Court passed in Writ
Appeal No.135/2009.
7.
Mr. Kishore Bhaduri, learned counsel appearing
for the respondents/contemnors would submit that the
order complained of dated 15/06/2010 directing
contemnors herein to consider the case of the
petitioner with effect from the date when his juniors
were considered for promotion in accordance with
Service Rules prevalent at that time, was fully
complied with and on due consideration, the contemnor
No. 3 found that the claim of contempt petitioner,
claiming promotion at par with Mr. A.K. Shrivastava
and Mr. A.K. Mitra is not tenable as aforesaid two
officers were taken over from the other Coal Companies
in executive cadre, whereas Mr. A.K. Chhibber was
taken over in nonexecutive cadre. He would further
5
submit that in the contempt petition, the petitioner
has accepted the fact that the order passed on 06
07/12/2010 by competent authority of Coal India
Limited rejecting his case was communicated to him.
He would further submit that once an order is passed
on the basis of direction issued by Court, by
contemnor No. 3 herein deciding case of the contempt
petitioner on merits and if contempt petitioner is
aggrieved against that order, he has to invoke the
remedy available under the law for judicial review of
that order. He would lastly submit that even if the
order passed by respondent No. 3 is erroneous on
merits, the contempt petition under Section 12 of the
Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with Section 215 of
the Constitution of India would not be maintainable in
law and as such the rule issued against them deserves
to be discharged and contempt proceedings be dropped.
8.
I have heard petitioner in person and learned
counsel for the respondents/contemnors and perused the
record available with utmost circumspection.
9.
It is well settled law, before a proceeding for
contempt can succeed, it is of paramount importance to
establish first, the service of the order of the Court
said to have been disobeyed upon the person alleged to
have committed contempt thereof, secondly the precise
act of contempt, thirdly the precise responsibility of
the contemnor in the act of contempt, and fourthly the
date of the alleged contempt being subsequent to the
service of the order said to have been disobeyed.
These are the four indispensable requisites and
failure to establish any one of them must mean
dismissal of the petition for contempt.
10. In order to appreciate submission advanced at the
bar, it would be proper to notice operative portion of
the order complained of, dated 15/06/2010 passed by
this Court in Writ Appeal which states as under:
“11. .........Therefore, we set aside the impugned
order dated 23/03/2009 passed by the learned
Single Judge and without going into the merits
regarding the service record of the appellant, we
dispose of this writ appeal with a direction to
the respondent authorities to consider the case
of promotion of the petitioner with effect from
the date of promotion of his
juniors/contemporaries.
Obviously
while
considering the promotion of the petitioner with
effect from the date of promotion of his
juniors/contemporaries, they will have to
consider the provisions of the rules prevailing
at the relevant time and whether the promotion
was on the basis of senioritycummerit or
seniority subject to the fitness or other
criteria may also be seen while considering the
promotion of the petitioner with retrospective
effect.”
11. Thereafter, the petitioner made a representation
to the Chairman, Coal India Limited vide Annexure C4
dated 16/08/2010 and communicated the order complained
of. The operative portion of representation states as
7
under:
“8. That considering the totality of the facts
and circumstances stated above, it is in the
interest of justice, equity & fair play that the
judgment dated 15/06/2010 passed by the learned
Div. Bench of the Hon'ble High Court be given due
regard by earlier compliance in literatim in an
Hon'ble manner i.e. by way of consideration in
the case of promotion in executive cadre (E2)
retrospectively w.e.f. 1.5.1973 at par with Sri
A.K. Shrivastava in the then scale of Rs.400
1250/ (CMAL) who was about 8 months junior to me
and retired from the rank of M2 from 30.6.2009 &
subsequent promotionary benefits at par with A.K.
Sinha, B.Sc. about two year junior to me &
retired w.e.f. 31.8.2007 from the rank of M3 as
CGM (Sales & Marketing) discipline from the scale
of Rs.5130073000/ (Revised) w.e.f. 1.1.2007, in
the interest of justice.
I refrain any earnestly request you sir to
issue instructions to the authorities concerned
for early compliance of the Court order/judgment
dated 15.6.2010 passed in writ appeal No. 135 of
2009 as directed in the interest of justice.”
12. Upon receipt of the representation of the
contempt petitioner along with copy of the order dated
15/06/2010 passed by this Court, contemnor No. 3
herein being the competent authority to consider the
case of the petitioner considered as directed and
passed the following order stating as under (Annexure
C6):
Coal India Limited
Government of India Undertaking
A Navratna Company
“COAL BHAWAN”
10, NETAJI SUBHAS ROAD, KOLKATA700001
Order
No. CIL/C5A(i)/AKC/419 dt.6th/07 December2010
8
In pursuance of the order dated 15/06/2010
passed in Writ Appeal No. 135 of 2009, (Shri
A.K. Chhibber v. CIL & Ors)whereby the Hon'ble
Division Bench of High Court of Chhattisarh,
Bilaspur inter alia partly allowed the writ
appeal directing the respondent authorities to
consider the case of promotion of the
petitioner with effect from the date of
promotion of his juniors/contemporaries
considering the provision of the rules
prevailing at the relevant time, undersigned,
being Director (Personnel & Industrial
Relations), Coal India Limited the respondent
No. 3 in the said Writ Appeal has examined the
entire case of Shri A.K. Chhibber, including
the several writ petitions, appeals arising
therefrom, court orders passed in the related
matters and the representation of the
petitioner as also the prevailing practices at
the relevant time and rules of the company in
this regard and after due consideration and
application of mind find that:
1.
The claim of Sri Chhibber, the writ
petitioner/appellant, regarding partly of his
case with that of s/Sr. A.K. Shrivastava and
A.K. Mitra is not tenable since both Sri
Shrivastava and Sri Mitra were taken over form
erstwhile coal companies in executive cadre
while Sri Chhibber who was taken over in non
executive cadre.
2.
It reveals from records that Sri A.K.
Chhibber, the petitioner/appellant herein, was
initially employed on 15.04.1972 as Chemist
purely on a temporary basis and was
subsequently designated as Chemist in T&S
GR.”C” and T&S grade B by the management of
NCDC in 1978 he was promoted to T&S grade A by
WCL where he continued to work till
31/12/1985. Upon formation of SECL as new
company, Sri Chhibber became an employee of
SECL from 1/1/1986.
3.
In 1992 Sri A.K. Chhibber moved High Court
against his nonsection/placement in Executive
cadre by filing a writ petition before Hon’ble
Jabalpur High Court which was disposed of vide
order dated 3/5/1995 with directions to the
respondents to consider the case of the
petitioner in accordance with the rules
applicable to the petitioner. In compliance
thereof the respondent management constituted
a special selectioncumDPC but since the writ
9
petitioner did not turn up before the said
selection committee, his case could not be
considered at that time.
4.
Again, in terms of the directions dt.
11/7/1997 of the Hon'ble High Court of Madhya
Pradesh at Jabalpur in MCC No. 634 of 1996
filed by Sri Chhibber seeking clarification of
the order dated 03.05.1995 a special section
cumDPC was constituted to consider the case
of Sri A.K. Chhibber for his
selection/promotion to executive cadre post.
The written test was fixed on 26.09.1997 at
SECL HQ, Bilaspur but again Sri Chhibber did
not appear in the said written test.
5.
Thereafter, Shri Chhibber filed another WP
No. 1531/98 in the year 1998 seeking direction
for implementation of the order passed by the
Hon'ble High Court of MP in WP No. 4087/92.
The Hon'ble Court passed order dtd. 05.12.2001
inter alia allowing the writ petition in part
with directions to the respondents to consider
the case of the petitioner for Executive Cadre
E2 according to the position which existed
before March 1976 without written test. The
respondent company filed LPA No. 17 of 2002
against the order of Ld. Singe Bench which was
dismissed and the order dated 05.12.2001
passed by the Hon'ble Single Judge attained
finality.
6.
In compliance of the order dtd. 12.03.2003
passed in LPA No. 17 of 2002, the Respondent
company constituted another section committee
and Sri Chhibber was advised to appear before
the said Committee for interview on
18.06.2003. He appeared before the said
Committee but declined to be interviewed for
E2 grade, as such due to nonparticipation in
the interview the committee did not find him
fit for placement in executive cadre post.
7.
The petitioner Sri Chhibber, filed
contempt petition for alleged noncompliance
of order of the Hon'ble Court and in
compliance of the directions of the Hon'ble
Court dt. 12/8/2004, Coal India Limited
constituted a selection committee that
interviewed Sri Chhibber and based on the
recommendations thereof, he was promoted to
the post of Sales Officer, and posted as such
in SECL vide order dated 10.01.2005. The
petitioner Sri Chhibber had joined on the
promoted post and has since superannuated from
the services from MCL.
10
8.
After joining on the promoted post, he had
again filed WP No. 4765 of 2006 raising
similar issues and claiming retrospective
placement in E2 grade w.e.f. 1973 and all
consequential promotions etc. as were sought
in his earlier writ applications. The said WP
was dismissed by the Hon'ble Chhattisgarh High
Court vide order dated 23.03.2009. Thereafter,
the petitioner Sri Chhibber had filed Writ
Appeal No. 135 of 2009 against the order dated
23.03.2009, which was allowed in part by the
impugned order dt. 15/06/2010.
For the reasons mentioned above, the decision
of CIL to promote Sri. A.K. Chhibber to E2 grade
in the year 2005 is just and fair and no
retrospective effect to the said
promotion/placement in E2 grade from 1973 is
justifiable in as much as firstly, the case of
Sri A.K. Chhibber the writ petitioner is
distinctly different from that of S/Sri A.K.
Shrivastava and A.K. Mitra for the reasons
mentioned herein before and as such Sri Chhibber
can not be considered for promotion/placement in
E2 grade from 1973 AND secondly, thought the
policy of Coal Indian Limited provides for all
selections from nonexecutive to executive cadre
in Sales & Marketing discipline, to which the
petitioner belonged, only after notification of
the posts and upon qualifying the written
examination and interview, the management of CIL
in due compliance of the directives given by
Hon'ble High Court, gave repeated opportunities
to Sri Chhibber for appearing in Selection cum
DPCs and even constituted special DPCs for him,
he refrained from appearing therein till 2004
when he was ultimately selected and promoted to
E2 grade.
For the reasons above mentioned, I do not find
any merit in the representation and case of Sri.
A.K. ChhibberExSales Officer MCL and dispose it
accordingly.
(R. Mohan Das)
Director (Personnel & Industrial Relations)
Coal India Limited
13. The aforesaid order passed by the contemnor No. 3
was communicated to the contempt petitioner by Dy.
General Manager, South Eastern Coal Fields Limited by
11
memo dated 09/12/2010, which reads as under:
SOUTH EASTERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
SECL HQ, SEEPAT ROAD
BILASPUR (CG)
dtd. 09/12/2010
NO.SECL:BSP:EE:AKC/10:3271 REGISTERED A/D POST
To,
Shri A.K. Chhibber
S/o Shri K.N. Chhibber
Retd. Sales Officer, MCL,
C/o House of Late Ms. U. Chhibber
Sr. Advocate
100 Teen Murty Chowk, Sunder Nagar,
Raipur (CG) 492013.
Sub:Order No. CIL: C5A[1]/AKC/419 dated
06/07th December 2010 issued to Shri
A.K. Chhibber, S/o Shri K.N. Chhibber,
ExSales officer, MCL under the
signature of Director [P&IR], CIL,
Kolkata.
Dear Sir,
Please find enclosed herewith an order
No. CIL:C5A(1)/AKC/419 DATED 06/07th December
2010 issued to you under the signature of
Director (P&IR), CIL, Kolkata. Please
acknowledge receipt of the same.
Encl: As above. Yours faithfully
Dy. General Manager [P/EE]
SECL
Cc: D[P}, SECL for kind inf. pl.
Cc: GM(P), CIL, for kind inf.Pl.
Cc: GM [Legal], CIL
Cc: Dy.GM[LEGAL], SECL
14. Thus from the aforesaid narration of the facts,
it is quite vivid that the order passed by this Court
dated 15/06/2010 in Writ Appeal No.135/2009 was duly
communicated to the contemnors herein and contemnor
No. 3 herein being the competent authority i.e.
Director (Personnel & Industrial Relations), Coal
12
India Limited passed an order considering the case of
the petitioner as directed on 15/06/2010 and thereby
rejected the petitioner's representation by order
dated 67/12/2010, which the petitioner has filed
along with this contempt petition.
15. After hearing petitioner in person and learned
counsel for the respondents/contemnors and upon
perusal of record, the following facts would emerge on
the face of record:
(i) That this Court by its order dated 15/07/2010,
commanded the respondents therein/contemnors herein to
consider the case of promotion of contempt petitioner
with effect from the date when his juniors were
considered and promoted in accordance with relevant
Service Rule.
(ii) That order complained of was duly communicated
to the respondents/contemnors herein along with
representation by the contempt petitioner.
(iii) The contemnor No. 3 being the competent
authority considered the case of contempt petitioner
and passed an order on merits on 67/12/2010 holding
that he is not entitled for promotion at par with Mr.
A..K. Shrivastava and Mr. A.K. Mitra for the reasons
recorded in that order.
13
(iv)
Order dated 67/12/2010 passed by contemnor
No. 3 was communicated to the contempt petitioner by
contemnor No. 2.
16. At this stage, it would be opposite to notice
Section 12(1) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971:
“12. Punishment for contempt of court.(1)
Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act
or in any other law, a contempt of court may be
punished with simple imprisonment for a term
which may extend to six months, or with fine
which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with
bodh:
Provided that the accused may be discharged
or the punishment awarded may be remitted on
apology being made to the satisfaction of the
court.
Explanation. An apology shall not be
rejected merely on the ground that it is
qualified or conditional if the accused makes it
bona fide.”
17. Section 2 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
which lays down as follows:
“2. Definitions In this Act, unless the context
otherwise requires,
(a) "Contempt of Court" means civil contempt or
criminal contempt;
(b) "civil contempt" means wilful disobedience
to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ
or other process of a Court or wilful breach of
an undertaking given to a Court;
(c) "criminal contempt" means the publication
(whether by words, spoken or written, or by
signs, or by visible representations, or
otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any
14
other act whatsoever which
(i) scandalises or tends to scandalise, or
lowers or tends to lower the authority of any
Court; or
(ii) prejudices, or interferes or tends to
interfere with, the due course of any judicial
proceeding; or
(iii) interferes or tends to interfere with, or
obstructs or tends to obstruct, the
administration of justice in any other manner;
(d) "High Court" means the High Court for a
State or a Union territory, and includes the
Court of the Judicial Commissioner in any Union
territory.
18. (A) Section 2 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
came to be considered by the Supreme Court in Dinesh
Kumar Gupta v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors1 ,
their Lordships held as under:
”12.1...The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
clearly postulates the existence of only the
following preconditions before a person can
be held to have committed civil contempt:
(i) There must be a judgment or order or
decree or direction or writ or other process
of a court; or an undertaking given to a
court;
(ii) The judgment, etc. must be of the court
and undertaking must have been given to a
court;
(iii) There must be a disobedience to such
judgment, etc. or breach of such undertaking;
(iv) The disobedience or breach, as the case
may be, must be wilful.”
(B) In the later part of judgment, it has further
1
JT 2010 (12) SC 81
15
been held that in case of contempt of civil nature, it
must be willful disobedience:
“13. This now leads us to the next question and a
more relevant one, as to whether a proceeding for
contempt initiated against the appellant can be
held to be sustainable merely on speculation,
assumption and inference drawn from facts and
circumstances of the instant case. In our
considered opinion, the answer clearly has to be
in the negative in view of the wellsettled legal
position reflected in a catena of decisions of
this Court that contempt of a civil nature can be
held to have been made out only if there has been
a wilful disobedience of the order and even
though there may be disobedience, yet if the same
does not reflect that it has been a conscious and
wilful disobedience, a case for contempt cannot
be held to have been made out. In fact, if an
order is capable of more than one interpretation
giving rise to variety of consequences, non
compliance with the same cannot be held to be
wilful disobedience of the order so as to make
out a case of contempt entailing the serious
consequence including imposition of punishment.
However, when the courts are confronted with a
question as to whether a given situation could be
treated to be a case of wilful disobedience, or a
case of a lame excuse, in order to subvert its
compliance, howsoever articulate it may be, will
obviously depend on the facts and circumstances
of a particular case; but while deciding so, it
would not be legally correct to be too
speculative based on assumption as the Contempt
of Courts Act, 1971 clearly postulates and
emphasises that the ingredient of wilful
disobedience must be there before anyone can be
hauled up for the charge of contempt of a civil
nature.”
19. In Noor Saba v. Anoop Mishra and another2, their
Lordships of the Supreme Court has clearly held as
under:
“14. To hold the respondents or anyone of them
2
(2013) 10 SCC 248
16
liable for contempt this Court has to arrive at a
conclusion that the respondents have wilfully
disobeyed the order of the Court. The exercise of
contempt jurisdiction is summary in nature and an
adjudication of the liability of the alleged
contemnor for wilful disobedience of the Court is
normally made on admitted and undisputed
facts...........................................”
20. In light of the aforesaid principles of law laid
down by their Lordships of Supreme Court, it has to be
examined whether the Act of contemnors can be said to
be wilful disobedience of order of this Court.
21. It is well settled that once an order is passed
by the competent authority on the basis of the
directions issued by the Court, even if the order is
erroneous, it gives a fresh cause of action to
aggrieved person to seek redressal in judicial forum
in order to avail the opportunity of judicial review,
but it cannot be considered to be wilful disobedience
of an order requiring exercise of contempt
jurisdiction under Section 12 of the Contempt of
Courts Act, 1971.
22. In J.S. Parihar v. Ganpat Duggar and others 3,
their Lordships of the Supreme Court held that
jurisdiction to consider the matter on merits cannot
be exercised in the contempt proceeding. Paragraph 6
of the report states as under:
3
(1996) 6 SCC 291
17
“6.........It is seen that once there is an order
passed by the Government on the basis of the
directions issued by the court, there arises a
fresh cause of action to seek redressal in an
appropriate forum. The preparation of the
seniority list may be wrong or may be right or
may or may not be in conformity with the
directions. But that would be a fresh cause of
action for the aggrieved party to avail of the
opportunity of judicial review. But that cannot
be considered to be the willful violation of the
order. After reexercising the judicial review in
contempt proceedings, a fresh direction by the
learned Single Judge cannot be given to redraw
the seniority list. In other words, the learned
Judge was exercising the jurisdiction to consider
the matter on merits in the contempt proceedings.
It would not be permissible under Section 12 of
the Act.”
23. In P.R. Toora v. Javed Choudhury & Ors.4, the
Supreme Court reiterated the principle of law as
under:
“3. Learned Additional Solicitor General for the
respondents states that the appropriate order in
this connection is passed on 22nd November 1999
on the representation of the petitioner. If the
petitioner has still any grievance against the
said order he may pursue his remedy in accordance
with law. These contempt proceedings are closed.”
24. In Lalith Mathur v. L. Maheswara Rao5, their
Lordships of the Supreme Court has clearly held that
once the Court direction to consider the employee's
representation was complied with and
his
representation was rejected on merits, contempt
petition would not be maintainable. Paragraph4 states
as under:
“4. The High Court in the writ petition had
4
5
JT 1999 (10) SC 392
(2000) 10 SCC 285
18
issued a direction for the consideration of the
respondent’s representation by the State
Government. This direction was carried out by
the State Government which had considered and
thereafter rejected the representation on
merits. Instead of challenging the order in a
fresh writ petition under Article 226, the
respondent took recourse to contempt proceedings
which did not lie as the order had already been
complied with by the State Government which had
considered the representation and rejected it on
merits.”
25.
Thus, guided by the principles of law laid down
by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in above
stated cases, it is quite vivid that the Court
direction in Writ Appeal No. 135/2009 dated 15/06/2010
(A.K. Chibber v. Coal India Limited and others) to
consider the case of petitioner at par with the
petitioner's juniors was substantially complied with
by the respondents/contemnors herein by rejecting the
petitioner's case on merit, which was duly
communicated to the petitioner, and if the petitioner
is aggrieved against that order rejecting his case on
merits, the remedy available to him would be to
challenge that order in accordance with law and to
seek judicial review of that order and correctness or
otherwise of that order cannot be examined in this
contempt proceeding. Thus, this is not a case where
the rule issued by this Court under Section 12 of the
Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 should be made absolute
as the contempt petitioner has utterly failed to
establish disobedience of the order complained of and
19
further failed to establish that disobedience of the
order was wilful.
26.
Consequently, rule issued on 15/03/2011 is hereby
discharged. The contempt petition is dismissed and
contempt proceedings against the respondents No. 2 &
3/contemnors herein are hereby dropped. However, it is
open to the contempt petitioner to question the
legality and validity of the order dated 67/12/2010
in accordance with law.
JUDGE
Tiwari
20
HEAD NOTE
Once an order is passed on merit, on the basis of
direction issued by the Court, contempt petition would
not be maintainable under Section 12 of the Contempt
of Courts Act.
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