Court No. - 7
Case :- CONTEMPT APPLICATION (CIVIL) No. - 2756 of 2021 Applicant :- Mahendra And 2 Others Opposite Party :- Dr Atul Kumar Gupta S.D.M.
Counsel for Applicant :- Navin Kumar Srivastava
Hon'ble Ajit Kumar,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicants and perused the record.
By means of this contempt application filed under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 the applicant has complained of non compliance of the order of this Court dated 29th January, 2021 passed in Writ- C No.- 2470 of 2021, whereby direction was issued to the trial court to decide the restoration application which has remained pending since 12th September, 2019 in Original Suit No.- 101 of 2012.
It is a widely known fact that in the recent past the entire State of U.P. got badly hit by the surge of second waive of Covid-19 pandemic resulting in the suspension of public movement and lock-down adversely affecting both judicial and administrative work in the State.
In view of the above, it is quite possible that the order of this Court issued on 29th January, 2021 does not stand complied with but this does not mean that it is a deliberate and wilful attempt on the part of the Presiding Officer to delay the proceedings.
In the matters of contempt application, there is personal liability of committing disobedience to the orders of the Court. Judicial officers of the civil courts cannot be held personally liable if any proceedings are delayed because presiding officer may be overburdened with work of varied nature and it is quite possible that proceedings get delayed and sometimes proceedings get delayed even due to the strike of lawyers.
In such above view of the matter, I do not find it a fit case to issue notice of contempt to the Presiding Officer.
However, the end of justice would be served in case if a fresh direction is issued to the the court concerned to decide the matter of restoration application.
Accordingly, this contempt application is disposed of with a direction to the court concerned to decide the matter of restoration application as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three months from the date of production of copy of this order provided, of course, there is no third waive of Covid-19 pandemic resulting in the suspension of public movement and lock-down adversely affecting both judicial and administrative work in the State.
It is provided that a copy of the order available on the official website of the High Court will be taken to be authentic one.
Order Date :- 30.7.2021 Atmesh