Madras High Court Imposes 50K Cost On Litigant Who Filed Contempt Petition Against Family Court Judge

The Madras High Court recently imposed a cost of Rs. 50,000 on a litigant who had initiated contempt proceedings against a presiding judge of family court claiming that the family court did not comply with high court directions to dispose of his divorce petition within a time frame.Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan directed the petitioner to deposit the amount to the relief fund of the Chief Justice of the High Court within a period of two weeks.This contempt petition is dismissed with cost. Accordingly, petitioner is directed to deposit a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) to the credit of Chief Justice Relief Fund, High Court of Madras within a period of two weeks from today. Consequently, connected sub application is closed.In the present case, the petitioner had filed for divorce in 2013 on grounds of cruelty. Since the matter was pending for several years, he filed a revision petition in the High Court for speedy disposal of the divorce petition. By an order dated 11th January 2017, the High Court directed the Family Court to dispose of the petition on or before 31st March 2017. The petitioner thus filed the present petition to punish the respondents for contempt of the High court's order dated 11.01.2017.The court noted that even though the High Court had directed the Family Court to dispose of the divorce petition by 11.01.2017, soon after, the petitioner had filed an appeal against an order of interim monthly maintenance.On one hand, the petitioner having been filed appeal as against the order of interim maintenance and on the other hand, filed this petition for contempt as against the Presiding Officer of the Family Court, the court noted.Further, since the order was passed on 11.01.2017, if at all any contempt was made, the petitioner ought to have filed a contempt petition within a period of one year from the date of the order as per Section 20 of the Contempt of Courts Act 1971. The petitioner however filed the contempt petition only in July 2022.The court also wondered how the registry had mechanically numbered the petitioner which not maintainable and barred by limitation.Additionally, the court also noted that the first respondent was presiding the court only from August 2021 and since impugned order was made in 2017, the presiding officer could not be impleaded as contemnor.Case Title: GP Bhaskar v Sumathi and anotherCitation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 505Case No: Cont.P.No.2545 of 2022Click Here To Read Order

Madras High Court Imposes 50K Cost On Litigant Who Filed Contempt Petition Against Family Court Judge

Upasana Sajeev

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