CAT contempt of court orders appealable only before Supreme Court: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court recently observed that orders issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, are subject to appeal solely to the Supreme Court and not the High Court..A Bench of Justices Vivek Kumar Birla and Donadi Ramesh observed,“Since proceeding for contempt under Section 17 of the Act, 1985 is dealt with by the Bench of not less than two Members and the order passed under Section 17 of the Act, 1985 would be appealable before the Supreme Court only. Therefore, any order or decision of the Tribunal under the Act, 1971 shall be appealable only to the Supreme Court within 60 days from the date of the order.” .Section 17 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 empowers the CAT to punish for contempt of itself and provides that the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 shall have effect in this regard..As a result of an earlier CAT order, the petitioners before the High Court were awarded positions as regular assistant medical officers along with associated benefits. Claiming that the authorities failed to comply with the order, the petitioners filed a contempt petition before the CAT.The CAT, however, found that there was no wilful disobedience on the part of the respondents. The decision to close the contempt proceedings was contested in the High Court, where a preliminary objection regarding the admissibility of the writ petition was raised. The respondent's counsel contended that the writ petition was not maintainable, citing Section 17 (power to punish for contempt) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 in conjunction with Section 19 (appeals) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971..At the outset, the High Court drew a distinction between orders passed by the Tribunal under Section 14(1) of the 1985 Act and orders passed under Section 17 of the 1971 Act."...against the former there is no remedy of appeal statutorily provided but as against the latter remedy of appeal is provided under Section 19 of the Act, 1971. An order or decision of the Tribunal in exercise of its jurisdiction to punish for contempt would be appealable as a matter of right under sub-section (1) of Section 19 of the Act, 1971, which provides that an appeal shall lie as a matter of right to the Bench of at least two Judges where the contempt order is passed by the Single Judge and it shall lie to the Supreme Court where the order is passed by the Bench."Since contempt proceedings under Section 17 of the 1985 Act are dealt with by a bench of not less than two members, orders passed would be appealable before the Supreme Court only, it added..It was clarified that while High Courts have jurisdiction under Article 226/227 for orders passed under Section 14(1), orders under Section 17 of the Act are appealable only to the Supreme Court, as per Section 19 of the Contempt of Courts Act.“Section 19 of the Act, 1971 provides for appeal and by virtue of Section 17 of the Act, 1985, the word 'High Court' shall be read as 'Tribunal'. Accordingly, any order or decision of the Tribunal punishing for contempt is appealable under Section 19 of the Act to the Supreme Court only," the Court noted while dismissing the plea.Advocate Pramod Kumar Pandey appeared for petitioner..[Read Order]