The Hindu 13.01.2011
Contempt case against Chennai Corporation Commissioner closed
Corporation had revoked permission to demolish property despite Supreme Court direction
The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the contempt case against Chennai
Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan and discharged him from further
proceedings.
A Bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan
Sudha Misra had on November 24, 2010 had issued the contempt notice
taking a serious view of an order passed by the Corporation revoking the
permission to demolish a property despite a Supreme Court direction to
that effect.
On Wednesday, Mr. Karthikeyan was present in the court in response to the contempt notice.
The Bench in a brief order said, “The Commissioner and
the alleged contemnor are present in the court. Altaf Ahmad, senior
counsel appearing for the Commissioner, states that the order of
demolition has been restored. The contemnor is represented through
senior counsel E. Padmanabhan. The contemnor has tendered unconditional
apology, which we accept. Since, the contemnor has vacated the premises
in question, nothing survives in this contempt petition and it is
disposed of. Contempt notice is discharged.”
While issuing contempt notice to the Commissioner, the
Corporation, as well as to petitioner D.M. Belgamvala “to show cause why
they should not be punished for contempt of court for trying to take
this court for a ride and set at naught our order dated May 14, 2010,”
the Bench “this is a typical case of a litigant trying to take this
court for a ride.”
The Bench also took exception to order of interim stay
of eviction of the tenant passed by the Madras High Court even after the
dismissal of the Special Leave Petition (SLP).
In this case, the landlord, Tamil Nadu Real Estate (P)
Ltd., had filed an eviction petition against Mr. Belgamvala,
petitioner-tenant, which had been decreed by the courts below, including
the High Court. The SLP against this order was dismissed by this court
on May 14 and the petitioner (tenant) was granted six months time to
vacate the premises. Despite this undertaking, the petitioner did not
vacate. Instead, he filed an application on November 12 for a direction
that he need not vacate the premises till final orders were passed in
the Review Petition.
The Bench said, “In our opinion, this application is a
sheer abuse of the process of the court. We are of the opinion that the
Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, is hand in glove with the
petitioner and it is for this reason that he has passed this collusive
and contemptuous order dated June 18 merely to get over our order
dismissing the SLP on May 14, 2010.”
Dies in court
Even as Assistant Executive Engineer of the Corporation
Anbuselvam was waiting in the court for the case along with the
Commissioner Mr. Karthikeyan, he suffered a massive heart attack. He was
rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where he died within few minutes.
