The Supreme Court has made it clear that when a Judge of a High Court finds someone guilty of contempt, another Judge of the same court cannot later decide that there was no contempt. This would amount to reviewing a coordinate bench's decision, which is not allowed.

"When one Judge of the same Court has taken a particular view holding the Respondent to be guilty of contempt, another Judge could not have come to a finding that the Respondent was not guilty of contempt,"
— Supreme Court Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih

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The Supreme Court said this kind of action crosses the limits of a single judge’s powers. It is also against judicial discipline because it treats the decision like an appeal, which only a higher bench or appellate court can do.

This important ruling came in a case involving RBT Private Ltd. The appellants had accused Sanjay Arora of not following certain court and arbitration orders. They filed a contempt petition. In December 2023, a Delhi High Court Judge found Arora guilty and gave him time to fix the issue.

But after a change in the court roster, another Single Judge heard the same matter. That Judge ruled that no contempt had taken place and dropped the case.

"The order of the learned Single Judge of the High Court by holding that the Respondent had not committed contempt amounts to sitting in an appeal over the order passed by the coordinate Bench dated 5th December 2023,"
— Supreme Court

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The top court strongly disagreed with this second decision. It said that the only correct way for Arora to challenge the first judgment was to file an appeal under Section 19 of the Contempt of Courts Act, not go before another single judge.

The Supreme Court cancelled the second ruling and sent the case back to the High Court. The matter will now continue from the point after the first Judge found contempt.

"Once contempt is found, the only issues left are whether it has been purged and what punishment, if any, should follow,"
— Supreme Court

Case: Rajan Chadha & Anr. v. Sanjay Arora

For Appellant: Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, Advocate Rohan Jaitley, AOR Tanvir Nayar, Advocates Akshay Sharma, Bhuvnesh Sehgal, Dev Pratap Shahi

For Respondent: Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri, AOR Vernika Tomar