The contempt petition is filed to punish contemnor / second respondent herein for his willful and wanton disobedience of the orders passed by this Court on 11.05.2017.
2. The case of the petitioner in brief as follows:
2.1. The petitioner was a tenant under the respondents 4 to 7 in W.P.(MD)No.8966 of 2017 and was running Cinema Theatres by name Santhi and Santhi Mini A/C theatres. The petitioner was running theatres on the basis of lease agreement from the respondents 4 to 7 in the said Writ Petition. However there was some dispute between the owners of the theatre and the petitioner. Since the petitioner had licence in his name on the basis of lease that was granted in favour of the petitioner by the respondents 4 to 7, the petitioner was running the theatre on the basis of license granted in favour of his lessors. In view of the dispute between the petitioner and his lessors, the petitioner's licence was not renewed. However the petitioner's lessors gave an application to the second respondent with the prayer to with hold the issuance of 'C' form licence in respect of Santhi Mini A.C Theatre for the period of 3 months. The petitioner's 'C' form licence is valid upto 27.07.2017 in respect of Santhi Theatre and the petitioner is entitled to continue to screen the films in the said Santhi Theatre till the licence period expire.
2.2 The petitioner has stated that he has also obtained an order of injunction in the Civil Court as against the original lessors in respect of Santhi Theatre. However, it is alleged that the Assistant Commissioner of Entertainment Taxes (CT-II) Commercial Tax Office came to the office of the Theatre and prevented the petitioner from screening the films in the said Santhi Theatre on the ground that the 'C' form licence in respect of the said Santhi Theatre had been obtained temporarily. In the above circumstances, the petitioner was constrained to file a Writ Petition challenging the order of the second respondent dated 29.04.2017. This court by order dated 11.05.2017 passed the following order ?Notice to the respondents returnable by 06.06.2017. Private notice is also permitted.
2. Since in the present case, without even giving prior notice, the impugned order having been passed by the respondent, there shall be an order of the impugned order for the simple reason that the lease will be expired on 22.07.2017. It is needless to mention that the petitioner can run the theatre till further order.
3. Post the matter on 06.06.2017 for filing counter?
3. The grievance of the petitioner in this contempt petition is that despite an order passed by this Court granting stay of the impugned order of the second respondent, the second respondent has not issued any order permitting the petitioner to run the cinema theatre namely, Santhi Theatre on the basis of the order passed by this Court. This Court has never directed the second respondent to pass any order permitting the petitioner to run the theatre. This Court has granted an order of stay by which the cancellation of 'C' form licence is stayed.
4. The petitioner cannot insist the second respondent to pass some other order revoking the earlier order, when the Writ Petition is still pending for adjudication. In such circumstances this Court finds no merit in the contempt petition. Based on the admitted facts, this Court is not inclined to entertain the contempt petition.
5. In view of the position narrated above the respondent has not violated the order of this Court. However it is made clear that by virtue of stay order by this Court, the order impugned in the Writ Petition No. 8966/2016 is stayed.
Hence, this Contempt Petition is dismissed.
To Mr.A.Sivagnanam,I.A.S The District Collector (Licencing Authority) Office of the Collectorate, Kumarasamy Raja Nagar, Virudhunagar, Virudhunagar District .