Telangana High Court Imposes Costs for Filing False Contempt Case

Justice Laxminarayana Alishetty also said that the contempt process cannot be used to intimidate the other side. The judge imposed costs of `25,000 on a tenant, who filed a contempt case against his landowner with false allegations, after he had obtained interim orders on the land.

Justice Laxminarayana said that there must be a clear violation of court’s order in the form of willful disobedience even by negligence or carelessness. When such wilful disobedience was not shown, and if it was proven that the contempt case was filed with malice intent, it should be levied with the exemplary costs.

Mohammed Nayeem , a businessman, took a premises in Troop Bazaar at Hyderabad on rent in 2001 from its landowner Naveditha Manvikar. After that, he claimed ownership over the property. The civil court dismissed his claim over the property. Later, he approached the High Court which issued interim orders directing the landowner to not alienate the property till the final disposal of the litigation. Meanwhile, Nayeem filed a contempt case against the landowner stating that she was trying to alienate the property in violation of the court orders. He did not submit any evidence for his allegations.

The court felt that the petition was meant to threaten the other side and imposed costs for misusing the process of law.