The contemnor should not be allowed to enjoy or retain the fruits of his contempt:

Supreme Court of India
Delhi Development Authority vs Skipper Construction Company(P) ... on 6 May, 1996
Equivalent citations: 1996 AIR 2005, 1996 SCC (4) 622
Author: B Jeevan Reddy
Bench: Jeevan Reddy, B.P. (J)
           PETITIONER:
DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

    Vs.

RESPONDENT:
SKIPPER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY(P) LTD. & ANOTHER

DATE OF JUDGMENT:    06/05/1996

BENCH:
JEEVAN REDDY, B.P. (J)
BENCH:
JEEVAN REDDY, B.P. (J)
PARIPOORNAN, K.S.(J)

CITATION:
 1996 AIR 2005          1996 SCC  (4) 622
 JT 1996 (4)   679      1996 SCALE  (4)202


ACT:



HEADNOTE:



JUDGMENT:
J U D G M E N T B.P. JEEVAN REDDY,J.

The contemnor should not be allowed to enjoy or retain the fruits of his contempt:
The principle that a contemnor ought not to be permitted to enjoy and/or keep the fruits of his contempt is well-settled. In Mohd.Idris v. R.J. Babuji [1985 (1) S.C.R.598], this Court held clearly that undergoing the punishment for contempt does not mean that the Court is not entitled to give appropriate directions for remedying and rectifying the things done in violation of its Orders. The petitioners therein had given an undertaking to the Bombay High Court. They acted in breach of it. A learned Single Judge held them guilty of contempt and imposed a sentence of one month's imprisonment. In addition thereto, the learned Single Judge made appropriate directions to remedy the breach of undertaking. It was contended before this Court that the learned Judge was not justified in giving the aforesaid directions to in additing to punishing the petitioners for contempt of court. The argument was rejected holding that the Single Judge was quite right in giving appropriate directions to close the breach [of undertaking].

The above principle has been applied even in the case of violation of orders of injunction issued by Civil Courts. In Clarke v. Chadburn [1985 (1) All.E.R. 211], Sir Robert Megarry V-C observed:

I need not cite authority for the proposition that it is of high importance that orders of the court should be obeyed. Willful disobedience to an order of the court is punishable as a contempt of court, and I feel no doubt that such disobedience may properly be described as being illegal. If by such disobedience the persons enjoined claim that they have validly effected some charge in the rights and liabilities of others, I cannot see why it should be said that although they ere liable to penalties for contempt of court for doing what they did, nevertheless those acts were validly done. Of course, if an act is done, it is not undone merely by pointing out that it was done in breach in law. If a meeting is held in breach of an injunction, it cannot be said that the meeting has not been held. But the legal consequences of what has been done in breach of the law may plainly be very much affected by the illegality. It seems to me on principle that those who defy a prohibition ought nat to be able to claim that the fruits of their defiance are good, and not tainted by the illegality that produced them.
To the same effect are the decisions of the Madras and Calcutta High Courts in Century Flour Mills Limited v. S. Suppiah & Ors. [A.I.R.1975 Madras 270] and Sujit Pal v. Prabir Kumar Sun [A.I.R.1986 Calcutta 220]. In Century Flour Mill Limited, it was held by a Full Bench of the Madras High Court that where an act is done in violation of an order of stay or injunction, it is the duty of the Court, as a policy, to set the wrong right and not allow the perpetuation of the wrong-doing. The inherent power of the Court, it was held, is not only available in such a case, but it is bound to be exercise it to undo the wrong in the interest of justice. That was a case where a meeting was held contrary to an order of injunction. The Court refused to recognize that the holding of the meeting is a legal one. It put back the parties in the same position as they stood immediately prior to the service of the interim order.

In Suraj Pal, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court has taken the same view. There, the defendant forcibly dispossessed the plaintiff in violation of the order of injunction and took possession of the property. The Court directed the restoration of possession to the plaintiff with the aid of police. The Court observed that no technicality can prevent the Court from doing justice in exercise of its inherent powers. It held that the object of Rule 2-A of Order 39 will be fulfilled only where such mandatory direction is given for restoration of possession to the aggrieved party. This was necessary, it observed, to prevent the abuse of process of law.

There is no doubt that this salutory rule has to be applied and given effect to by this Court, if necessary, by over-ruling any procedural or other- technical objections. Article 129- is a constitutional power and when exercised in tandem with Article 142, all such objections should give away. The Court must ensure full justice between the parties before it.