Heard.
Petitioner has filed instant contempt petition alleging willful non-compliance of the order dated 29.01.2021 passed by the writ Court in Writ Petition No.2638 (SS) of 2021. The relevant portion of the order dated 29.01.2021 reads as under:
"Without commenting upon the merits of the case, the petitioner is directed to move a fresh detailed representation alongwith a copy of this order before respondent no.2/Chairman, U.P. Recruitment and Promotion Board, Lucknow within 10 days from today, who shall consider and decide the same in terms of judgment and order dated 23.11.2020 (supra) in accordance with law by way of passing a reasoned order expeditiously, preferably within two months from the date of receipt of the said representation."
The contention of the petitioner is that the petitioner had served a copy of the order of writ Court along with the representation upon the respondent-contemnor on 03.02.2021 through Counsel by registered post but till date no positive action has been taken by the opposite party to comply the order of the writ Court and the time fixed by the writ Court has also expired, which shows that opposite party is flouting the order with impunity. Therefore, the petitioner is constrained to approach this Court by means of the present contempt petition, seeking appropriate action under the provisions of Contempt of Courts Act against the opposite party for willful non-compliance of the order of the writ Court.
Vide order dated 29.01.2021, the writ Court had directed the petitioner to move a fresh representation along with a copy of the order of writ Court before the respondent within ten days but the petitioner inspite of severing the same himself had sent it through Counsel by registered post and during the course of argument, learned Counsel has failed to explain as to why he has sent representation through counsel. In the pleadings, neither the petitioner has pleaded that the said representation has been received by the respondent nor has annexed any postal tracking status report to show that the envelope sent by the petitioner through registered post on 03.02.2021 has been received by the office of respondent-contemnor. According to the petitioner, the representation was sent by the petitioner on 03.02.2021 and as such, the cause of action arose on 10.04.2021 but thereafter, the petitioner has not sent any reminder to the respondent-authority for non-compliance of the order of writ Court.
It would be relevant to note that not only the State of U.P. but also the whole country is facing COVID-19 pandemic and offices including Government functionaries are not working in full strength, therefore, it cannot be said that the respondent has willfully not complied the order of writ Court.
For the reasons stated above, I do not find that respondent authority has willfully disobeyed the order passed by the writ Court. Therefore, no case is made out against the authority concerned under the Contempt of Courts Act.
Accordingly, the contempt petition is dismissed.
Order Date :- 19.5.2021 akverma