Contempt Proceedings -- Statutory Authority as Party -- Statutory authority or body corporate not a necessary party once responsible officers are impleaded individually
(i) Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, S.2 -- Contempt Proceedings -- Statutory Authority as Party -- Contempt proceedings are proceedings in personam and cannot acquire the character of a representative proceeding. A command issued to a statutory authority or body corporate is, in law, a command directed to the individual officers responsible for managing its affairs. Once those officers have been impleaded in their individual capacity, the statutory authority or juristic entity is neither a necessary nor a proper party to the contempt proceedings. (ii) Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, S.12(5) -- Contempt Proceedings -- Punishment of Body Corporate -- While Section 12(5) refers to companies and bodies corporate, the punishment of detention in civil prison for contempt can only be enforced against the individual directors, managers, or officers in whose consent, connivance, or neglect the contempt was committed. The provision does not render a body corporate itself liable to prosecution or punishment under the Act.
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