The Supreme Court in the case Lavu Namdev Toraskar v. Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority And Ors observed and has initiated the contempt proceedings against a litigant for writing a letter to the President of India intentionally suppressing an undertaking given by him to the Court. The bench comprising of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Sandeep Mehta in the case observed and has stated that this court is of the that this is a fit case to initiate proceedings against the appellant for civil and criminal contempt. The bench in the case observed and has issued notice to the appellant named Lavu Namdev Toraskar wherein asking him to be personally present before the Court on January 8, 2024. The appeal was filed before the court challenging the order dated May 06, 2022 of the National Green Tribunal, Western Zone that upheld the decision of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority i.e., the Respondent No. 1 to demolish the appellant’s alleged illegal structures which includes the construction of a Restaurant, Ground floor, apartment on 1st and 2nd floor and to restore the land to its original condition, 30 days from the receipt of the said order. The appellant challenged before the court that the said NGT order before the Apex Court, with one of the main grounds being that the order by Respondent No. 1 was passed without giving any heed to the pending application for regularization filed by the contemnor. The appellant in the case had given an an unconditional undertaking before the court on August 18, 2023, to remove the subject structure if his pending application for regularization is rejected. Thus, the application subsequently came to be rejected on September 15. The bench in the case observed that newspaper publicity was also given at the instance of the appellant to the office memorandum issued by the Government of India which is based on the letter written to the President of India. The court observed that the intention of filing the application for withdrawal is obvious that the appellant wants to back out from the undertaking given to the said Court. The said court is of the prima facie view to initiate both civil and criminal contempt proceedings against the Contemnor who shall person ally remain present on the relisted date of January 8, 2024. It has also been stated by the bench that it will open for the first respondent to address a letter to the office of the Hon’ble President of India and all other authorities to whom the Memorandum issued on the basis of the complaint made by the appellant to the Hon’ble President of India inviting the attention of the said offices to the orders passed by the said court from time to time and the unconditional undertaking given by the appellant.
The counsel, Advocates Mr. Prashant Sivarajan with D Kumanan AoR, Mr. Tushar Saigal,Adv. Ms. Meenakshi S. appeared for Appellant. The counsel, Advocates Mr. Surjendu Shankar Das, AoR standing counsel for Goa with Mr. Anand Murthi Rao appeared for the Respondent No. 1. The counsel, Advocates Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, AoR, Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Shivangi Singhal, Adv. Mr. Ankit Kumar, Adv. Mr. Deepanshu Raj represented the Respondent Nos. 2.