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Sanjay Prasad v. Madhusudan Dwivedi & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1128Decided 14 Oct 2026
Civil Appeal No. 13745 of 2026
Justice Dipankar Datta · Justice Sheel Nagu

Background

An official challenged an interim order of a Single Judge of the Allahabad High Court in a pending contempt application, after the Single Judge rejected his compliance affidavit (which recorded rejection of certain candidates' claims per an earlier writ direction) as unsatisfactory. The official filed a "Special Appeal" before the High Court's Division Bench, which was the order now under challenge: the core question being whether such an intra-court appeal was even available against an interim order passed during pending contempt proceedings.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the Special Appeal was indeed available, since the impugned order went beyond merely weighing contempt and effectively decided the merits of the underlying dispute, making it an appealable "judgment" distinct from an order actually punishing for contempt. It further held that civil contempt proceedings do not amount to "criminal jurisdiction," so the bar on intra-court appeals from criminal-jurisdiction orders did not apply, and it formally referred doubts about an earlier three-judge-bench precedent (Ram Kishan Fauji v. State of Haryana) to a larger bench for reconsideration. The impugned order was set aside, with the appellant permitted to file a Special Appeal within a fortnight.

Lesson Learnt

When a court hearing a contempt application rules on the merits of the underlying dispute rather than just compliance, that order is treated as a regular appealable judgment: ordinarily permitting an appeal within the same High Court rather than an immediate rush to the Supreme Court.

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

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