M.C. MEHTAversusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.

                        [2018] 13 S.C.R. 1177                               1177


                               M. C. MEHTA                                  A
                                     v.
                       UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
                  (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 4677 of 1985)
                         In RE : SEALING ISSUE
    (Report Nos. 129 and 131 submitted by Monitoring Committee)             B
                          NOVEMBER 22, 2018
        [MADAN B. LOKUR, S. ABDUL NAZEER AND
                         DEEPAK GUPTA, JJ.]
      Urban Development:
                                                                            C
      Sealing of unauthorized/illegal dairy – By Milch Tax
Inspector, on the direction of Director (Veterinary Services) of East
Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) – Seal broken by a Member
of Parliament (MP) – FIR – Premises re-sealed – Monitoring
Committee (appointed by Supreme Court) submitted its Report No.
129 before Supreme Court stating the above facts – Notice issued            D
to the MP – In the meantime Monitoring Committee filed Report
No. 131 stating that an article in a leading national daily mentioned
that soon after hearing on 3rd October, 2018, the MP alleged that
the Monitoring Committee was running a sealing racket in
connivance with corrupt officers – Held: Monitoring Committee
had no role to play in the matter of sealing the premises in question       E
– However, the MP did take law into his own hands by breaking the
seal – It is left to the better judgment of the political party, to which
he belongs, to take action against him – Allegations made by the
MP against the Monitoring Committee shows his total lack of respect
for any rule of law – However, the Court does not intend to proceed         F
against the MP for the reckless statement – Therefore, the
proceedings against the MP and the Reports of the Monitoring
Committee are closed.
      Closing the Reports of the Monitoring Committee, the
Court
                                                                            G
      HELD: 1. The Monitoring Committee had no role to play
in the matter of sealing the premises which was in violation of
the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957. The
sealing and de-sealing of the premises had nothing to do with the
Monitoring Committee which was not consulted in the matter
and no direction had been given by the Monitoring Committee                 H
                               1177
1178            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2018] 13 S.C.R.


 A     to seal the premises. The sealing of the premises was an
       independent act carried out by the Veterinary Services
       Department of the EDMC and had no concern with the Monitoring
       Committee. [Paras 9 and 10][1181-C-E]
              2.1 Notwithstanding this, there is no doubt that the Member
 B     of Parliament did take the law into his own hands and broke the
       seal or tampered with it. Shri Manoj Tiwari is an elected MP and
       hopefully a responsible citizen of Delhi. Instead of pacifying the
       mob and requiring the mob to act in accordance with law, Shri
       Manoj Tiwari acted irresponsibly by taking the law into his own
       hands. The consequence of such a behaviour can be devastating
 C     in a given situation. It is left to the better judgment of the political
       party, to which he belongs, to take action against the MP, if so
       advised. [Paras 11, 12 and 13][1181-E-G; 1182-B]
             2.2 The misplaced bravado of the MP and his chest
       thumping immediately after the hearing on 3rd October, 2018 and
 D     making serious but frivolous allegations against the Monitoring
       Committee appointed by this Court is a clear indication of how
       low he can stoop, and displays his total lack of respect for any
       rule of law. It seems that he is, in a sense, a rebel without a cause.
       The court does not intend to proceed against him for the reckless
 E     statement attributed to him as publicized by the Media
       Department of the political party. Pumping for apparently
       misplaced political propaganda has no place in our courts; this
       unhealthy practice needs to be strongly deprecated. The
       proceedings against the MP are closed. Report Nos. 129 and
       131 are also closed. [Paras 15 and 16][1182-D-G]
 F
             M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (2006) 3 SCC 399 : [2006]
             2 SCR 264 – referred to.
                               Case Law Reference
       [2006] 2 SCR 264                 referred to              Para 1
 G
             CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil)
       No. 4677 of 1985
             Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India
            Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Advocate (A.C.) A. D. N. Rao, (A.C.)
 H     Ms. Anitha Shenoy, (A.C.) Advs.
               M. C. MEHTA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                           1179


       Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv., Ajay Kr. Singh, Neeraj, Satyendra Kr.           A
Srivastav, Ramesh Tiwari, Vinay Kumar, Atulesh Kumar, R. Bala, Sachin
Sharma, Pranay Ranjan, Raj Bahadur Yadav, D. L. Chidanand, Ritesh
Kumar, Ms. Suhasini Sen, G. S. Makker, B. V. Balram Das, A. K. Kaul,
Raj Bahadur, Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Vijay Panjwani, S. Wasim A. Qadri,
Zaid Ali Subzposh, Praveen Swarup, Gaurang Kanth, Sayan Ray, Soumo
                                                                              B
Palit, Ms. Eshita Baruah, B. C. Santosh Kumar, Ajay Bansal, Ms. Veena
Bansal, Gaurav Yadav, Ms. Garima Prashad, Ms. Anil Katiyar, D. N.
Goburdhun, Ms. Gauri Goburdhun, Ms. Pallavi Chopra, Arvind Kumar
Sharma, Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, Advocates for the appearing parties.
       Petitioner-In-Person
       The Judgment of the Court was delivered by                             C

      MADAN B. LOKUR,J. 1. The Monitoring Committee
appointed by this Court by judgment and order dated 16th February, 20061
submitted Report No. 129 dated18th September, 2018. It was stated in
the Report that the Monitoring Committee had received informationthat
the seal put by the Veterinary Services Department of the East Delhi          D
Municipal Corporation (EDMC)on a property in village Gokalpur,
Shahadra, North Zone, Delhi had been broken/tampered with on
16.9.2018.
      2. The Report of the Monitoring Committee contains the following
information:                                                                  E
         “On the directions of Director (VS), EDMC to take action against
         the illegal dairies at Gokalpur village, MTI was directed to
         thoroughly check the area and take sealing action against any
         illegal dairy running at Gokalpur. MTI inspected the area and
         found one illegal dairy being run at H. No. 46, Kh. 299, Village     F
         Gokalpur near PanchayatGhar, Delhi-94 by Sh. Prem Singh s/o
         Sh. Mahaveer Singh. As police programme has already been
         booked for taking action in the area, therefore, the above illegal
         dairy was sealed by MTI and his staff on 14.09.2018. The report
         of sealing alongwith necessary photographs were sent to Director
                                                                              G
         (VS), EDMC and sealing action was entered in the sealing Register
         at Sr. No. 123.
         Yesterday on 16.09.2018 (Sunday), Digital Media reports showed
         that above seal has been broken by Sh. Manoj Tiwari, Hon’ble
1
    M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (2006) 3 SCC 399                            H
1180             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                       [2018] 13 S.C.R.


 A           M.P. Similar reports were also printed in the print media and
             Hon’ble M.P. was shown in the action of breaking the seal of the
             premises.
             First Information Report of the incident has been lodged by
             DD(VS) at PS-Gokalpuri against all responsible persons. Further
 B           Deputy Director (Veterinary Services), Shahdara (North) Zone
             has fixed a programme for re-sealing the above mentioned
             premises at 2.30 p.m. on 17.09.2018 and SHO, Gokalpuri has
             been requested to provide sufficient police force.”
              3. A perusal of the Monitoring Committee’s Report indicates that
            th
 C     on 14 September, 2018 an illegal dairy being run at H. No. 46 on Kh.
       299 in village Gokalpur owned by Shri Prem Singh was sealed by the
       Milch Tax Inspector on the directions of the Director (Veterinary
       Services) of the EDMC. The seal was apparently broken or tampered
       with by Shri Manoj Tiwari, an elected Member of Parliament (MP) on
       16th September, 2018 as reported in the digital media and the print media.
 D
              4. The Report further indicates that when the breaking/tampering
       of the seal came to the knowledge of the Veterinary Service Department,
       a First Information was lodged and the premises were re-sealed on 17 th
       September, 2018.

 E            5. On a reading of the Report, we got the impression that the
       sealing was carried out in consultation with the Monitoring Committee
       appointed by this Court in terms of the judgment and order dated 16th
       February, 2006. It appeared to us that Shri Manoj Tiwari had violated
       orders of this Court and interfered in the administration of justice which
       amounted to contempt of court. Accordingly on 19th September, 2018
 F     we issued notice to Shri Manoj Tiwari directing his personal appearanceon
       25thSeptember, 2018.Onthat date and subsequently on1stOctober, 2018
       and 12th October, 2018,Shri Manoj Tiwari was present in Court. He
       filed a reply and the Report was taken up for consideration.We finally
       heard the matter on 30th October, 2018.
 G            6. In the meanwhile, on 8 th October, 2018 the Monitoring
       Committee filedReport No. 131 in this Court in which it annexed anarticle
       from a leading national daily of 4th October, 2018. The article mentioned
       that soon after the hearing on 3rd October, 2018Shri Manoj Tiwari alleged
       that the Monitoring Committee is running a sealing racket in connivance
       with corrupt officers.
 H
            M. C. MEHTA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                               1181
                    [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

      7. Report No. 131 also placed on record a document issued by             A
the Media Department of a national political party to which the MP
belongs. The document adverted to the statement reportedly made byShri
Manoj Tiwari wherein he had alleged that the Monitoring Committee is
running a racket of sealing in connivance with corrupt officers.
      8. When we finally took up the matter for hearing on 30th October,       B
2018Shri Manoj Tiwari was present in Court along with his learned counsel
and submissions were made on his behalf as well as by the learned
Amicus Curiae on behalf of the Monitoring Committee.
      9. It appears from the submissions made before us that in fact the
Monitoring Committee had no role to play in the matter of sealing the          C
premises of Shri Prem Singh who had violated the provisions of the
Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957. During the course of submissions,
we were informed that Shri Prem Singh had paid a fine and penalty for
misuse of the premises by running an unlicensed dairy and the premises
de-sealed.
                                                                               D
       10. The sealing and de-sealing of Shri Prem Singh’s premises had
nothing to do with the Monitoring Committee which was not consulted in
the matter and no direction had been given by the Monitoring Committee
to seal Shri Prem Singh’s premises. The sealing of the premises was an
independent act carried out by the Veterinary Services Department of
the EDMC and had no concern with the Monitoring Committee.                     E

       11. Notwithstanding this, there is no doubt (and this is the admitted
position) that Shri Manoj Tiwari did take the law into his own hands and
broke the seal or tampered with it on the premises of Shri Prem Singh on
or about 16th September, 2018.
                                                                               F
       12. We are extremely pained by the machismo and brazen manner
in which Shri Manoj Tiwari took the law into his own hands and broke or
tampered with the seal on Shri Prem Singh’s premises. We are pained
because Shri Manoj Tiwari is an elected MP and hopefully a responsible
citizen of Delhi. Should an elected representative of the people defy the
rule of law in this manner?                                                    G
       13. We asked learned counsel representing Shri Manoj Tiwari the
reason why he had taken the law into his own hands. The reply given to
us, on instructions, was rather shocking. We were told that Shri Manoj
Tiwari was a popular leader of a political party and on seeing him in that
area a mob of about 1500 people had gathered and goaded him to break           H
1182             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2018] 13 S.C.R.


 A     the seal that had been “illegally” put on the premises of Shri Prem Singh.
       As a result of the pressure exerted upon him by the mob, he brokeor
       tampered with the seal. What shocked us was the rationale given by
       Shri Manoj Tiwari which suggested to us quite explicitly that instead of
       pacifying the mob and requiring the mob to act in accordance with law,
       Shri Manoj Tiwari acted irresponsibly by taking the law into his own
 B
       hands. The consequence of such a behaviour can be devastating in a
       given situation. For example, if a mob goads anelected MP to commit a
       far more serious offence, would it mean that the elected representative
       would act on the instructions of the mob and commit the offence? A
       large number of such situations can ariseon a day to day basis and it is
 C     disconcerting to note that anelected member of a responsible political
       party can succumb to pressure from a mob rather than require the mob
       to follow the rule of law. In such a situation, the elected representative
       ceases to be a leader and becomes a blind follower. We need not say
       anything more on this subject but leave it to the better judgment of the
       political party to take action against Shri Manoj Tiwari, if so advised.
 D
              14. The misplaced bravado of Shri Manoj Tiwari and his chest
       thumping immediately after the hearing on 3rd October, 2018 and making
       serious but frivolous allegations against the Monitoring Committee
       appointed by this Court is a clear indication of how low Shri Manoj
       Tiwari can stoop and displayshis total lack of respect for any rule of law.
 E     It seems that he is, in a sense, a rebel without a cause.
              15. The shoulders of this Court and the Monitoring Committee
       are broad enoughto take criticismin its stride and therefore we do not
       intend to proceed against Shri Manoj Tiwari for the reckless statement
       attributed to him as publicized by the Media Department of the political
 F     party. We are of the view that pumping for apparently misplaced political
       propaganda has no place in our courts; this unhealthy practice needs to
       be strongly deprecated.We only hope, as mentioned above, that better
       sense prevails and undemocratic tendencies are curbed by the concerned
       political party.
 G           16. The proceedings against Shri Manoj Tiwari are closed. Report
       Nos. 129 and 131 are also closed.


       Kalpana K. Tripathy                         Reports closed and directions issued.

 H