K.T. Chandy v. Mansa Ram Zade

.... :.- 6SO K.T.CHANDY _v._ MANSA RAM ZADE _Dect!mber_ 11. 1973 [S. N. DWIVEDI AND Y. V. CHANDRACHUD. JJ.) _Contempt of_ C~!lrt-S!lit _by employee arainst emp!oyer-Dismissa/ of employee_ _;n exercise of rirht to_ termin~te _as per contract of serv1ce-When_ _does not amount_ _to contempt._ B - Th~ re1p~nden~ 'II' as ernploy~d in~ company, · Tbe contract of service Provided f 3 t th~ t:r.niution of s:rvic~ by giving three rnJnths notice or three months pay '. i:lli:a th.:r:~r witlnut\uig1ing any cause. The comp1ny gave him a notice that it w11 ro:~nd that his p:rfornnnce and conduct have not been good and that he had nlt P~""d useful to the c:>m;nny. lie was therefore advised to trY for alternative C e'll;>l:>y.n:nL H• wu inf:mn:d tlu.t he would be released from the company at his r:p:n on p1ym:nt by bim of the am'>unt under a bond executed by him with S()'!B -:n=~"ion. Tile respl'11 :nt tll,reupon filed a suit claiming various reliefs,. H: di:l not,,k: for an interim injunction restraining the appellant and the company fr.,m t:rmilating hil service during the p:ndencY of the suit, nor did the appellant ao:i thl e> unny give :u~y such ulldortalcing. The company gave the respondent DJtio• tor ui Hting nis servic• with elfect from the date or the service of the notice and graDted him three months' pay. D Tin High Court h:ld that the act of giving the second notice amounted to eootem" of c:>urt b!Cause, as a result of lhe termination some of the relie~ prayed for wlald 'l=m: jnfructuous and that would amount to obstruction or Interference with due course ofjustice . . Allowilla lhe appeal to this Court, H!!LO : Wh:re a plrty to a suit terminates the service of the adversary party _in_ lh~ h71<Jt _uuciu of_ 11/J rl~hu u~:fer _the_ _eo!flract of urv/ce and In_ _tile ahunce_ _of_ ~1' I"''''"' _''/111ct1on_ _or_ u~1<r14kln~. tho act would not corutitute contempt of CoUrL (6S3 B-C) E (a I A c>-n')inod roldin! of the tw;, notices ~hows that the appellant had term!· ~ nl:d t'l~ "r•ic' ill th~ h >1!'1,c,.~ise or the right ve<~ed jn tho company by the 01~,,,~ -.r HNic~. T.,, )•1!< did not threaten the reJp<lDdent to withdraw the F wbole or P!llt of the suit. {653 Cj {b) T :t~ ~i•c!-nltt!lo; t~nt o1: or mJre of the reliefs cl3im:d tn the plaint had b;:>:n ) lnfructuous o!\ ac~unt of the termiMtjon would not e-;tnbli.•h contum•cY, b::u;,. ·~• 'llP>~:i>!ll Wll fr¢: 10 am:od hiJ pl>int and ask: for an appropriate relict (6S3 D) . (c) Th: fac·t that tb~ ap;.,lllnt h•d tender~<! an unconditional apology in the f{. ~'t C lUrt il DOl & &r;>u-1d r·1r thil Court refU•inll tO jnterferc, becau•e, (iJ the _lf.J_ l Cu·t hvl ill f•ot h:li 1~11 ~P!l:ll1nt hat com'!liu~d contempt thougl! II dtd n [11 ], .,. [1 ] ·1 ')'J11Sil 'tl:'lt br.\u" ·,r th: lD li'>IY. and (iil the H111h Courl bad d1rcctcd th: ap,,:ll<>OI to par colts to the re1pondent. !6S4 Dj _G_ T~h QJ>fl G>l~' Y. _R._ _N._ '>~ •,k/a ( !96~1 ) S C R. 422 _!ani{_ _Dalwduf_ _Singh_ v. _DJI}_ "'"~ _fe•Mr/,_ [1?6')] I S.C.R. d4 and _Mal;jir'ao_ _Shliole_ v. _C.(},_ _ltf•llkar,_ Jl A.I.R. I 'Hl M • .ll, _24S,_ rcfcrcd to. .#; -· _;_...--~~ --- IC. T. CHANDY V."M. R. ZADE _(Dwivedi,_ /.) 651 A CRIMiNAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 129 of 1970. Appeal by Special leave from t~e Judgment and order dated the 24th July, 1969 of the Calcutta High Court in Criminal Misc. Case No. 179 of 1969. B # _c_ D .E F_ G R. _D._ _Mukherjee,_ and _D.N._ _Mukherjee,for_ the appellant. _S.B._ _Wad,_ for the respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DWIVBDI, J. Seemingly it is a small case. It has not hit the headlines in the news-media. Nor it has gripped the public_ mind. The pecuniary stake is trivial. A tiny sum of Rs. 200/- is payable as costs by the appellant. However, this case brings in to the flash-point an issue of great consequence to liberty of contract: Where to draw the divid,ing line between the area of contempt of court and the area of operation of contract~! rights • . 'The appellant is the Chairman of the Hindustan Steel · Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Company). The respondent was employed in the Company on a contract of service. The contract provided for termination of his service by giving three months' riotice or three months' pay in lieu thereof and without assigning any cause. On February 21, 1968, the' Company gave him this notice : "It is fo11nd that your performance and conduct in this plant have not been good and that you have not proved useful for the Co~pany. You are hereby advised to note this poSition and also to try for alternative emploYifient else- where. You may be released from this company at your request on payment of the amount required under the bond executed by you on _pro·rata_ basis as a very special case taking into account the period of service that may be rendered by you at the time of release. 'In oth~r words, if you ~boose to l~ve the se~vice of the company before expn'y of bond pertod, you WI1l be requtred to pay the company a sum not exceeding Rs. 20,fXXJ/- reduced by the amount calculated on _pro-rota_ basis in respect of the servi~ you may tender after com~ pletion of your training.'' - Soon thereafter he rushed to the Court. On May 27, 1968 he instituted a suit in the Court of the Second Munsif, Asansol. The material reliefs claimed in the plaint are : (1) a declaration that the notice dated February 21, 1968 is illegal; bad, _mala_ _fide,_ without jurisdiction, void and inoperative and is not binding on the plaintiff; {3) ·a· declaration that the plaintiff is entitled to promotion to the next higher arade, namely, foreman, from ~ober 10, 1966; (2) a declaration that the charge sheet dated_ July I, 1966, conb~ - dential character report, dated April27, 1967, are _ultra_ _vires,_ . unenfor~able, illegal, unsustainablet _mala fide_ and opposed to rules ·and natural justice and are not binding on the plain, tiff; 652 SUPREME COURT,REPORTS [1974] 2 s.c.R. (4) a mandatory injunction directing the defendant to promote the plaintifLto the grade of foreman; and (5) a permanent injunction restraining the defendant from giving effect to the notice ~ated February 21, 1968. He did not ask the Munsif to grant an interim injunction restraining the appellant and the Company from terminating his service during pendency of his suit. So no such interim injunction was operating at the relevant time. Nor did the appellant and the Company give an undertaking to refrain from terminating his service during pendency of the suit. · Forgetting the suit for a moment, there was no impediment in their way of terminating his service according to the contract. And on February 26, 1968, the Company gave him this notice; "(T)he services of the (respondent) are hereby terminated with effect from the date of service of this order on him and payment of three months' pay in lieu of notice in terms of clause (vi) of his appointment letter ..... . dated January 29, 1962." The Calcutta High Court (R.N. Dutt and B. Banerji _JJ)._ has held that the act of giving this notice amounts to contempt of court. The learned Judges said: "It seems that he (plaintiff) was more or less non-suited ... There is no doubt that since his services have been terminated, some of the reliefs which were prayed for in the suit could become infructuous. On these considerations, we think that the action of the Chairman in terminating the services of the (plaintiff) .... does amount to obstruction or interference with due course of justice· in the petitioner's suit b~fore the Munsif. ... and so it amounts to contempt of the said court." A ## _c_ E When asked, counsel for the respondent could not cite any decision holding a Muslim husband's act of divorcing his wife during pendency of her suit for future maintinence as contempt of court. The divorce completely aborts her suit. It is true that the law of contempt of court i~ essential for keeping the administration of justice pure and undefiied. It is also well to remell).ber that our society is also interested in the fulfilment of a man's expectations under a contract. To that end we have <1; law of contract in our country. Assigning an unlimited and undefined area to either of them would unduly curtail the area of the other. Each should have a viable area so that justice may hold high her head and contract is not cribbed and cramped. But what is the yardstick to measure their area of operation. It has been held that 'initiation in good faith' of a departmental enquiry under the Customs Act by the Custom authorities on the basis of facts which are the subject of a criminal prosecution under that Act against the appellant would not amount to contempt as the authorities' are acting bona fide and discharging their statut~ry duties.' _(Ruka_ _Ram_ _G._ _Geokar_ v. _R._ _N. Shukla.l_ see also _Jang_ _Baha-_ _dur_ _Singh_ v. _BaiJ_ _Nath_ _Tewari).2_ In another case it was .held that the issue of a notification under the Abolition of Jagirs Act for resumption of Jagirs during pendency of a jagirdar's writ petition for restraining such resumption is not contempt, because the Government was acting _bona fide_ in the exercise of its statutory rights. (See (I) [1968] 3 S.C.R. 422. (2) [1969] 1 S.C.R. 134. F G· R A B ## c D E F G H K, T, CHANDV _v._ M. R. ZADE _(Dwivedi,_ _J.)_ 653 _Malojirao_ _Shitole_ v. C. _G._ _Matkar)(!)_ These cases establish that _bona_ _fide_ exercise of a statutory right by a party to a proceeding is not cQntempt in the absence of an interim injunction against or undertaking by thr.t party. There appears to be so sound reason why this principle should not extend to the exercise of rights under a contract. The rights of a party under a contract are his legal rights. In our view _bonafide_ or honest exercise of a right under a contract should be the yardstick for allocating their respective area to contempt and it gives to each its proper sphere. So where a party to a suit, as here, terminates the service of the adversary party in the honest exercise of his rights under the contract of service and in the absence of any interim injunction or tlndertaking, his act would not constitute contempt of court. We are satisfied from a combined reading of the two notices relating to termination of service that the appellant had terminated the service of the respondent in the honest exercise of the right vested in the Company by the contract of service. So he has not committed contempt of the Munsif's Court. The order terminating his service does not threaten the respondent to withdraw the whole or part of his suit. The mere circumstance that one or more of the reliefs claimed in the plaint have become infructuous on account of the termination order would not establish contumacy, The respondent is free to amend his pl:dnt und ask for a relief against the termination order. Counsel for the respondent has relied on _Pratap_ _Singh_ v. _Gurbakah_ _Singh(4)_ and _Gobind_ _Sahai_ v. _State_ _of_ _U.P.(')_ These cases are clearly distinguishable on facts. rn the first case a Government employee had instituted a suit as well as a writ petition against the Government in respect of his service conditions. There~ upon the appropriate authority started a departmental proceeding again st the employee. The charge sheet stated that he had gone to a court of law before exhausting all his departmental remedies and that his action was contrary to official propriety and Slibvcrsive of good discipline. This charge was framed on the strength of a, circular letter issued by the Chief Secretary of the Government on June 25, 1953. It emphasised that "any attempt by a Government servant to seek a decision on such issues in a court of law without first exhausting the normal official channels of redress could only be regarded as contrary to official· propriety and subversive of good discipline and could well justify the initiation of disciplinary action against him. This Court held that the authorities have committed contempt of court. In the second case while the respondent's suit challenging the election of his opponent to a committee of a political party was pendingJ the appellant letters expelling him from the party on the strength of an earlier resolution Qf the party which barred reference of such disputes to a taw court and provided for summary removal of any member who initiated a suit. This Court held that the action of expulsion amounted to contempt of court. It should be observed that in both cases the complainant had a right to institute a l~gal proceeding in a law court for redress of his grievance. This legal njtht (1) A.I.R. 1953 MB 245. (2) {1962) Su[Jp. 2 SCR 838. (3) [1969]1 SCR. 176. "' · 654 SUPREME COURT 'IBPORTI [1~74) 2 l.c.L could be taken away only by a valid law. But there was no such law A· in operation. .So neither the officers of the Government nor the political party had· a legal right to take any action for punishina the suitor for his mere act of instituting a legal proceeding in a law court. In our case the appellant hiid a right under the contract ~o terminate the service of the respondent. ' Counsel for the respondent has submitted that aa the appellant had tendered an unconditional apoloay in the High Court, we ahould B not interfere with the High Court's order. We are unable to appreciate the submission, Apology goes to sentence and may be accepted only upon a finding that contempt has been committed. The Hiah Court has in fact held that the appellant has committed contempt. But it has accepted his apology and refrained from awardina an~ ### punishment. Moreover, the appellant has been directed to pay Rs. 200/· C as costs to the respondent. So the appellant is entitled to have the order of the High Court set aside. We allow the appeal and set aside the order of the High Court. V.P.S. _Appeal_ _allowed._