Blitz Bureau
THE Delhi High Court recently observed that not every violation of a court’s order can be construed as contempt of court and that an act becomes contempt only if there is an intent to violate an order , reports Bar and Bench.
A Bench of Justice Hari Shankar made the observation while dismissing a contempt petition filed by Canadian giant Viterra BV against a company called Sharp Corp Limited. “Every disobedience, or breach, of an order passed by a court, is not contempt. Intent is the essence of contempt. Sans intent, there can be no contempt,” the Court said.
In its contempt petition, Viterra had accused Sharp of deliberately and willfully disobeying a court order issued on June 3, 2022, by a single judge in an arbitration-related case. The core of the dispute involves the sale of a property located in Siraspur, New Delhi, which was allegedly covered by an injunction preventing its sale or transfer to third parties.
The petitioner (Viterra) claimed that the sale of this property in November 2022 violated the court’s order, which restrained such transactions. Sharp argued that the sale was lawful because the property was subject to a “prior right” of the State Bank of India (SBI) rather than being mortgaged or pledged.
