J&K Special Tribunal Can Refer Matters To High Court For Initiating Proceedings Under Contempt Of Courts Act: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Thursday held that J&K Special Tribunal is deemed to be a "court" subordinate to the High Court for the purposes of Section 10 of the Contempt of Courts Act and, therefore, shall be well within its powers to refer an appropriate case to the High Court for initiating appropriate proceedings against the violators of its orders or against those who commit its criminal contempt.

A bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar remarked,

“…The J&K Special Tribunal is not a toothless body altogether and is possessed of sufficient powers to deal with the citizens who dare to commit its contempt. Though it is ideal as also to make the functioning of the Tribunal effective to make an amendment in the Act of 1988 to confer upon it specifically the power to punish for contempt in relation to itself or any member thereof, as has been done in various statutes”.

The observations were passed while answering a question as to whether the J&K Special Tribunal has conferred with any power to punish a person for committing contempt of itself or any member thereof.

In its bid to answer the question, the bench noted that the Jammu and Kashmir Special Tribunal is constituted under Section 4 of the Jammu and Kashmir Special Tribunal Act, 1988. Rule 21 of the Jammu and Kashmir Special Tribunal Rules, 1986, prescribes that the Tribunal has been vested with powers of a civil court, inter alia, to punish a person for contempt in relation to itself or any member thereof.

In this view the bench held,

1. That the Tribunal is not vested with any power, directly or indirectly, to punish for contempt in relation to itself or any member thereof;

2. Under Rule 21 of the Rules of 1986, the Tribunal is conferred the power of Civil Court to punish a person for contempt in relation to itself or any member thereof. ;

3. Since the Civil Court is not vested with any power to punish a person for contempt in relation to itself, as such, such power should be understood to mean the power conferred upon a Civil Court under Order 39 Rule 2-A of the Code of Civil Procedure, to punish for disobedience of interim injunctions passed by a Civil Court under Rules 1 and 2 of Order 39 of the Code of Civil Procedure only. That would mean that the Tribunal too shall have jurisdiction to punish a person for disobedience of its interim orders of injunction passed to maintain the equilibrium or to preserve the lis etc.;

4. The Tribunal shall be deemed to be a „court‟ subordinate to the High Court for the purposes of Section 10 of the Contempt of Courts Act and, therefore, shall be well within its powers to refer an appropriate case to the High Court for initiating appropriate proceedings against the violators of its orders or against those who commit its criminal contempt;

5. The Tribunal shall also be entitled to proceed under Section 345 of the Cr. P. C, where the contempt committed in the view of or in presence of the Tribunal is an offence described under Sections 175, 178, 179, 180 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code.

Case Title: Rasheed Ahmad Peerzada Vs J&K Special Tribunal.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 137

Click Here To Read/Download Judgement