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The Bordeuri Samaj of Sri Sri Maa Kamakhya v. Riju Prasad Sarma

Contempt Petition (Civil) · 2021 INSC 897Decided 15 Dec 2021
Contempt Petition (Civil) Nos. 853-855 of 2015
Justice Ajay Rastogi · Justice Abhay S. Oka

Background

This contempt petition arose from a 2015 Supreme Court judgment that had resolved a long-running dispute over management of the historic Kamakhya Temple in Assam, directing that temple premises occupied by a rival body (the "Debutter Board") be vacated and handed back to the traditional hereditary priests (the Bordeuri Samaj). The petitioner alleged that the Debutter Board had still not handed over certain buildings, movable temple property, and over Rs. 11 crore in funds, and sought to have the respondents punished for contempt for defying the 2015 judgment.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the immovable properties had in fact already been handed over, and that while a police investigation report suggested possible misappropriation of roughly Rs. 7.6 crore by the Debutter Board, this was only a prima facie finding from an inquiry report, not a conclusive adjudication of liability, and the respondents had never been given a chance to contest it. Crucially, the Court noted that its original 2015 judgment contained no specific direction to pay any money to the temple or petitioner, so there was no clear court order being disobeyed on that point. Since contempt power must be exercised sparingly and only for clear, deliberate disobedience of a specific direction, the Court declined to punish anyone for contempt, while leaving it open to the petitioner to pursue a separate civil recovery proceeding for the allegedly misappropriated funds.

Lesson Learnt

Contempt of court is reserved for clear, deliberate violation of a specific court direction: a court will not use its contempt power to resolve a disputed factual question (like how much money was misappropriated) that was never actually decided in the original judgment; a separate civil suit is the proper route for that.

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

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