Merely Because Stay Application Is Pending In Review Petition Cannot Be A Ground To Not Comply With Directions Issued By The Court : Supreme Court

Merely because the stay application is pending in review petition cannot be a ground to not comply with the directions issued by this Court, the Supreme Court observed while issuing notice in a Contempt Petition filed by Reliance Industries Limited.

The bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh observed that the pendency of an appeal and/or writ petition along with stay cannot be equated with pendency of the review petition. 

The Court in a judgment [ Reliance Industries Ltd vs Securities and Exchange Board of India  2022 LiveLaw (SC) 659 ] delivered in August, this year, had allowed the plea of RIL  to access certain documents relied on by the SEBI to file a criminal complaint against the company. "SEBI is a regulator and has a duty to act fairly, while conducting proceedings or initiating any action against the parties. Being a quasi­judicial body, the constitutional mandate of SEBI is to act fairly, in accordance with the rules prescribed by law. The role of a Regulator is to deal with complaints and parties in a fair manner, and not to circumvent the rule of law for getting successful convictions. There is a substantive duty on the Regulators to show fairness, in the form of public co­operation and deference", it was observed.

Senior Advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for the RIL who filed the contempt petition, submitted before the Court SEBI was directed to furnish a copy of the documents but the same has not been furnished till date. Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, who appeared for the SEBI, requested the court not to pass further order as a review petition preferred by it is pending. He placed reliance on the decisions in Modern Food Industries (India) Ltd. vs. Sachidanand Dass 1995 Supp (4) SCC 465 as well as in State of J and K Vs. Mohd. Yaqoob Khan (1992) 4 SCC 167.

The court noted that, the Mohd. Yaqoob Khan (supra) was a case where against the ex-parte order passed by the learned Single Judge, pending writ petition, the contempt proceedings were initiated. Therefore it was observed that when the stay application is yet to be heard and decided and disposed of, the contempt proceedings cannot be initiated.

"The pendency of an appeal and/or writ petition along with stay cannot be equated with pendency of the review petition. There is a final decision by this Court in an appeal. Merely because the stay application is pending in review petition cannot be a ground to grant stay by the respondent on its own and not to comply with the directions issued by this Court.", the bench observed while issuing notice.  

Case details

Reliance Industries Limited. vs Vijayan A (Authorised Representative of SEBI) | 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 950 | CONMT.PET.(C) No. 570/2022 | 7 Nov 2022 | Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Harish N. Salve, Sr. Adv. Mr. K.V. Vishwanathan, Sr. Adv. Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, AOR Mr. Amey Nabar, Adv. Mr. Raghav Shankar, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Sharma, A.S., Adv. Mr. Tushar Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Agarwal, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. K. K. Venugopal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Abhishek Singh, AOR For M/s. R.K. Ashar & Co.

Headnotes

Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 - Contempt petition filed by RIL alleging non compliance of directions issued to SEBI in Reliance Industries Ltd vs Securities and Exchange Board of India 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 659 - Notice Issued to respondent - Merely because the stay application is pending in review petition cannot be a ground to grant stay by the respondent on its own and not to comply with the directions issued by this Court. 

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