Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday closed the contempt proceedings against nine judges of Anand Court and has given relief to them after they tendered unconditional apology and assured the court that they will follow the important observations and directions of higher courts in regard to the filing of the civil cases in the future.
The High Court took the nine judges to task after an 88-year-old petitioner approached the Gujarat High Court when no seriousness was shown by the district judges regarding a 45-year-old case of a land dispute in 1977. In this case, the court had also fixed a deadline of December 31, 2005, however, the suit remained pending for 17 more years until the petitioner approached the High Court complaining about its pendency.
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The High Court issued a circular taking strict cognizance of the district judges following the case. The High Court instructed them that whenever there is an order from the High Court on stay or a direction pertaining to a case deadline, the court registry should ensure that these directions are mentioned in the record and proceedings of the case on every date of hearing.
The High Court further said that the rule of law is paramount and the lower courts should deal with civil matters along with criminal matters. The High Court said that the judges should be careful and cautious whenever a case is taken up for hearing. When the judges apologized and accepted the mistake after the circular, the Gujarat High Court decided not to go ahead and canceled the contempt action.
