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DEHRADUN: In a rare development, Uttarakhand high court has recalled its own order on an application filed by Magsaysay award winner Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
On July 29, a single bench of Justice Manoj Tiwari recalled its order dated November 17, 2021, that closed a contempt petition filed by Chaturvedi against L Narasimha Reddy, chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
Many legal experts had termed the high court’s closure order as “unprecedented” as a division bench of the Supreme Court had already put a stay on the same contempt plea.
In his 2021 order, Justice Tiwari said, “There is no representation for the petitioner. In view of the order dated 11.03.2019 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 6550 of 2019, whereby the present contempt proceedings have been kept in abeyance, which has been placed on record by Registry, the Contempt Petition is closed.”
“However, the petitioner shall be at liberty to seek recall of this order, as and when the SLP is decided in his favour,” the order further said.
In his recall application, the 2002-batch IFS office said that contempt proceedings are “most vital instrument to ensure the majesty of law and dignity of courts”.
“In case orders are passed on contempt proceedings without recording anything without the compliance of the judicial orders, the same would word sanctity and respect of the Constitutional Courts and would also result in an increase in unwarranted litigations ultimately leading to delay/denial of justice to hone aggrieved party,” Chaturvedi submitted before the high court.
In March 2019, a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices R Bhanumati and Subhash Reddy stayed all proceedings in the matter.
In his recall plea, Chaturvedi, who is currently posted in Haldwani as chief conservator of forests, pointed out that none of the parties in the contempt petition had requested for the closure and no counsel of any of the parties was not present in the court.
The petitioner also said that the CAT chairman neither bothered to comply with the orders of the Uttarakhand high court to file any compliance affidavit nor even filed any response till this date in the contempt petition.
He also pointed out violations of the Supreme Court orders.
In August 2018, Uttarakhand high court had set aside a July order of the CAT chairman, in which, he transferred Chaturvedi’s case of the Nainital bench of the CAT to its Delhi bench. The court had imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the central government and its instrumentalities, terming their attitude as “prima facie vindictive” against the IFS officer.
Later in February 2019, the Supreme Court doubled this fine while upholding the high court’s order.
On September 7, 2018, while reacting to the high court order, CAT chairman Reddy, stated, “It appears that Section 25 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 was not brought to the notice of their Lordships.
“Section 25 confers exclusive powers on the Chairman of the Tribunal to transfer any pending case from one bench to another, and the power to stay the further proceedings in such matters is incidental,” Reddy noted.
The CAT chairman had further said that the comments made in the high court’s order were “in a way, are in the teeth of Section 25 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985″.
Interestingly, Justice Tiwari was one of the members of the division bench that had set aside the CAT chairman’s order, transferring the case from Nainital to Delhi.
