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Yatinder Kumar Aggarwal & Ors. v. Mukund Swarup & Ors. (with Manju Swaroop v. Bhupeshwar Prasad)

Contempt Petition (Criminal) · 2019 INSC 67Decided 22 Jan 2019
Contempt Petition (Criminal) No. 2 of 2012
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

A 1955 money decree against a judgment-debtor remained unexecuted for decades, leading to a court-ordered auction sale of the debtor's property in the 1960s, which the debtor's family long disputed. After the Supreme Court dismissed the debtor's appeal in 2013 (finding the decretal amount had not been fully paid), the debtor sought a review, producing fresh documentary proof of additional payments made to the executing court that had not been placed before the Court earlier. Separately, because interim orders restraining sale of the property had been violated when the property was sold to third parties during the case's pendency, a contempt petition was also filed.

Decision Breakdown

On the review petition, the Court found that the documents now produced (including a 1971 District Judge order) showed payments had, in fact, substantially discharged the decree - a fact not noted in the 2013 judgment. It therefore recalled its 2013 order, allowed the civil appeal, and set aside the sale of the property. On the contempt petition, the Court held that the contemnors had indeed violated the restraint order by selling the property, but since the property was no longer the subject of the sale (having been set aside), the Court took a lenient view and directed payment of Rs. 50,000 as compensation instead of imposing stricter contempt punishment.

Lesson Learnt

Even a final Supreme Court judgment can be reopened through a review petition if a genuine, previously unconsidered factual error (such as incomplete payment records) is shown to have affected the outcome; and violating a court's interim restraint order can attract contempt liability even if the underlying issue is later resolved in the violator's favour.

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

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