'One of most dreaded acts of contempt,' Supreme Court upholds conviction of 3 for creating fake Madras HC order

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said creating fake orders of the court is one of the most dreaded acts of contempt of court for it not only thwarts the administration of justice, but it has inbuilt intention by committing forgery of record.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prashant Kumar Mishra dismissed a plea by Shanmugam alias Lakshminarayanan, M Muruganandam and S Amal Raj against the Madras High Court's order convicting them of contempt of court for creating a bogus and fake order in respect of a property.

The court highlighted that the sole object of the court wielding its power to punish for contempt is always for maintaining the purity of administration of justice.

"Nothing is more incumbent upon the courts of justice than to preserve their proceedings from being misrepresented, nor is there anything more pernicious when the order of the court is forged and produced to gain undue advantage," the bench said, holding that the beneficiary of the fake interim order has rightly been held guilty.

The court, however, modified their sentence from six months jail to one month simple imprisonment. It found six months term as too harsh.

Upholding the High Court's order, the bench said, "We are of the view that present is a case where it is established beyond all reasonable doubt that the present appellants/contemnors have either used or created fake High Court interim orders. It is not a case of mere probability of commission of offence rather it is a proved case of commission of offence".

As per facts, the district munsiff court, Tiruchengode passed a decree in 2004 in favour of J K Rangammal Charitable Trust ordering recovery of possession and arrears of rent from the contemnors. The contemnors filed an appeal which was dismissed. The decree holder filed an execution petition. When the court amin went to execute the decree to effect delivery of possession on April 17, 2018 the contemnors produced interim orders passed by the Madras High Court purportedly staying the decree.

Upon verification, it was found, the said orders were fraudulently created by committing forgery and impersonation in the name of the judge of the High Court.

After scrutinising the material, Justice Mishra, in a 31-page judgment for the bench, said, "We are satisfied that the finding recorded by the High Court does not suffer from any illegality or perversity".

A misleading or a wrong statement deliberately and wilfully made by a party to the proceedings to obtain a favourable order would undoubtedly tantamount to interference with the due course of judicial proceedings, the court said.

When a person is found to have utilised an order of a court which he or she knows to be incorrect for conferring benefit on persons who are not entitled to the same, the very utilisation of the fabricated order by the person concerned would be sufficient to hold him/her guilty of contempt, irrespective of the fact whether he or she himself or herself is the author of fabrication, the bench said.

The court rejected arguments by the appellants that they were not given due opportunity to defend themselves and that the contempt proceedings were barred by limitation.

The bench pointed out for about four years the case bundle was missing in the registry of the High Court.

On repeated request by the decree holder the bundle was traced, and the contempt case was registered in 2022. However, it does not mean that the contempt was initiated in the year 2022, the court said.

"It is significant to notice that the case bundle of writ petition in the High Court was misplaced in the registry of the High Court so as to render the High Court powerless to punish for contempt even though it may be fully convinced of the blatant nature of the contempt," the court added.