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Rajat Kanodia v. R.D. Chaudhary

Contempt Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 169 of 2012)Decided 21 Sept 2015
Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 169 of 2012
Justice Anil R. Dave · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Background

The petitioner and respondent disputed the amount due under a settlement recorded before the Supreme Court on 24 January 2011: the petitioner claimed Rs. 3.5 crores was owed, while the respondent maintained only Rs. 1.6 crores was payable. A connected contempt petition was also filed by the other side (Nijinoy Trading) against Kanodia over the same underlying dispute.

Decision Breakdown

Finding no agreement between the parties on the amount actually due under the settlement, the Court declined to adjudicate the figure itself and instead directed the parties to approach the Executing Court to resolve the dispute, with liberty to seek mediation if they wished. Contempt Petition (C) No. 169 of 2012 was disposed of on these terms, with the interim order of 16 December 2014 (regarding appropriation of sale proceeds) to continue until the Executing Court passed further orders. The connected Contempt Petition (C) No. 241 of 2014 was dismissed outright.

Lesson Learnt

A contempt petition is not the forum to resolve a genuine dispute over how much money is owed under a settlement: courts will direct parties to the executing court (or mediation) for that, while disposing of the contempt proceeding itself.

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

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