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A.K. Jayaprakash v. S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 1003Decided 19 Aug 2025
Contempt Petition (Civil) Nos. 1002-1003 of 2023 in Civil Appeal Nos. 6732-6733 of 2009
Chief Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Augustine George Masih

Background

A.K. Jayaprakash, a bank manager with Nedungadi Bank, was dismissed from service over alleged irregularities but was reinstated by the Labour Commissioner, a decision the Bank unsuccessfully challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2018 dismissed the Bank's appeal and directed it to pay his outstanding dues within three months. After Nedungadi Bank merged into Punjab National Bank, the dues (including arrears of salary, gratuity, and provident fund) were not actually paid until 2019, well past the deadline, prompting Jayaprakash (and after his death, his legal heirs) to file contempt petitions against the Bank for non-compliance.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that although the Bank was late in paying, the delay was explained by genuine administrative difficulties following the bank merger and the need to retrieve decades-old records, not by any deliberate or wilful defiance of the Court's order, which is required to sustain a civil contempt charge. It therefore discharged the contempt notice. It also rejected the separate claim for pension, since no pension direction had ever been part of the original 2018 order and contempt proceedings cannot be used to claim new relief. However, recognising that the employee's dues remained unpaid for over a decade despite repeated directions, the Court ordered the Bank to pay a lump sum of Rs. 3,00,000 to his widow as compensation for the prolonged delay, with 8% interest if not paid within eight weeks.

Lesson Learnt

Contempt of court requires proof of deliberate, wilful disobedience: genuine administrative delay, even if inexcusable in itself, is not automatically punishable as contempt. Separately, contempt proceedings cannot be used as a shortcut to claim new benefits (like pension) that were never part of the original court order.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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