Litigant awarded three-month imprisonment for contempt of court

The judge held that the leniency it showed was abused and taken casually by Nagarajan

CHENNAI: Holding that his behaviour before the court proved that he had no respect towards the court and abused the process of the court proceedings by giving false undertakings which he failed to comply even after several adjournments, the Madras High Court on Tuesday convicted a litigant and awarded him three months’ simple imprisonment for contempt of court.

Justice SM Subramaniam issued the direction while hearing a contempt petition by U Jinadoss and four others under Section 11 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. The petitioners prayed for an order to punish D Nagarajan, the first respondent, with maximum punishment for wilful and deliberate disobedience of the order passed by the High Court on June 25, 2018.

The court ordered to maintain the status quo against the sale deed by Nagarajan following a petition by Jinadoss against a Lok Adalat award, as it dealt with the rights in respect of disputed properties. However, Nagarajan favoured a sale deed for one Venkataram Yellam Raju on July 2.

The judge held that the leniency granted by the in granting several adjournments were undoubtedly abused and taken casually, and Nagarajan continued to violate the court orders. The court added that despite providing several opportunities, he failed to execute the cancellation deed.

When the matter was listed on November 19, Nagarajan and his counsel did not appear. Therefore, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. The court also directed the Police Commissioner to secure and produce Nagarajan before the court on Tuesday.

When the matter came on Tuesday, the HC convicted him and awarded simple imprisonment for three months, and directed the sub-registrar to cancel the sale deed of the disputed property within two weeks.