Contempt of Court – Dispute between two groups of a Joint Venture (JV) Company – Seth Group and Mittal Group – The JV Company had acquired some land and also availed licenses with an intent to develop the land – Subsequently, both the Groups agreed to divide the development in the land and thereupon the development rights in the land were sold – Dispute arose between them in respect of payment of liabilities out of the JV Company which gave rise to various litigations – Matter was referred to arbitration – Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) dated 04.05.2015 was executed between the Groups whereunder both the groups were to fulfill the reciprocal obligations – Writ Petition was disposed of in terms of the MoS – In the contempt petitions filed by Seth Group, the grievance was that Mittal Group failed to comply with the obligations under the MoS and the non-compliance was wilful and intentional – On 24.04.2020, this Court held that the Mittal Group deliberately and willfully did not fulfill their obligations under the MoS and as such they rendered themselves liable for action under the Contempt of Courts Act – However, two months’ time was given to them to fulfill their part of obligations under the MoS – Despite the above specific directions, licenses were not renewed by the Mittal Group and because of non-renewal of the licenses, the balance amount of EDC liability was not paid by the Seth Group and even the Mittal Group also did not pay their liability towards EDC of the said licenses – Hence IAs filed by both the Groups – Held: Considering the earlier order dated 24.04.2020, it is not disputed that the Mittal Group was to renew licenses and for which application was to be submitted by them – The three licenses were with respect to the entire 48.03 acres of the land, out of which the development rights of only 14.80 acres were given to Seth Group – Even bifurcation of licenses was with respect to 14.80 acres in favour of Seth Group and the remaining 33.23 acres in favour of the Mittal Group and others – Conjoint reading of relevant clauses of MOS showed that the liability of the Seth Group towards the license renewal fees is with respect of the lands falling to the share of Seth Group i.e. 14.80 acres and additionally, the Seth Group is also required to pay half of the liability of others towards license renewal fees and the Mittal Group is liable to pay balance license renewal fees – Thus, both the Groups are directed to pay their respective license renewal fees liability within two weeks – As regards the liability towards EDC, both Groups desired to avail the benefit of One Time Settlement Scheme, “Samadhan Se Vikas” – In view of that, both the Groups are required to submit mutual consent opting for the benefit of OTS scheme – Thus, in continuation of earlier order dated 24.04.2020, directions passed in respect of renewal of license and payment of amount towards EDC liability under the new OTS scheme – Matter to be listed after three months for reporting compliance.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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