Prayagraj, Sept 24 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has rejected a petition seeking criminal contempt proceedings against Justice Sunita Agrawal, who is at present the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court.
The petition filed by advocate Arun Mishra alleged that as a judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Agrawal had passed some orders in his cases in a “biased” manner with an oblique motive to “harass and damage him”.
A two-judge bench comprising Justices Rajiv Gupta and Surendra Singh observed that the plea was entirely misconceived, frivolous, irresponsible and without merit.
“We have no hesitation to hold that the present criminal contempt application is not only frivolous but is also vexatious.
“In the interest of the proper functioning of this institution, such applications should be discouraged by all means. More so, when the litigant happens to be an advocate from whom the court is entitled to expect a certain degree of responsibility and restraint as an officer of the court,” the court observed.
Mishra had alleged that a writ petition in which he was a lawyer was dismissed in December 2020 by a division bench comprising Justice Agarwal without allowing him the opportunity to present his arguments. The HC had also imposed Rs 15,000 as costs in that case.
Mishra was also aggrieved by another order passed by a division bench comprising Justice Agarwal on February 23, 2021, where a case in which he was representing the petitioner was “dismissed for want of prosecution”. His plea was that, on the same day, in other petitions where the counsel for the petitioners did not appear, the cases were adjourned and scheduled for another date.
He alleged that the order was purposely passed in a biased manner and that the same was “tantamount to contempt of her own court”.
The court at the outset observed that the orders referred to by Mishra were issued by the division bench, presided over by Justice Agrawal, in the exercise of its judicial discretion and based on the facts and circumstances of each case.
It does not in any way amount to contempt of her own court as claimed by the applicant, who seeks criminal contempt proceedings solely against Justice Agarwal, the court added.
In the judgment dated September 21, 2024, the Allahabad High Court also noted that in Mishra’s case, the Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh had denied the consent for initiating contempt proceedings.
Under Section 15(1) of the Contempt Act, the Supreme Court or High Court can take action of criminal contempt on its own motion or on a motion made by the advocate general or another person with the consent of the advocate general in writing. PTI CORR RAJ RT
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