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Dhiren Dave v. M/s Surat Dyes & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3765 of 2006)Decided 21 Jan 2016
Civil Appeal No. 3765 of 2006
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The appellant, a practising Company Secretary, had filed an affidavit containing false averments in a company-law appeal before the Gujarat High Court. The High Court's Company Judge directed his prosecution under Section 195 CrPC, initiated contempt proceedings against him, and referred the matter for possible disciplinary action under Section 21 of the Company Secretaries Act. He appealed to the Supreme Court and, during the hearing, sought permission to file an affidavit tendering an unconditional apology for his "unwitting conduct."

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the appellant's affidavit, in which he unreservedly apologised, acknowledged his error, and asserted he had an otherwise unblemished career since 1996 with no intention to disrespect the courts. Finding the apology genuine and sufficient to warrant dropping the contempt proceedings, the Court held it would be unjust to let the related prosecution and disciplinary-referral proceedings continue once the contempt matter itself was dropped. It therefore set aside all three proposed actions, accepted the apology, allowed the appeal, warned the appellant against repeating such conduct, and made no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Courts can and do accept a sincere, unconditional apology to end contempt proceedings arising from an isolated lapse, but doing so comes with an explicit warning that the conduct must not be repeated: an apology is a second chance, not a free pass.

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

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