Held guilty of contempt, man made to sit in Delhi High Court for a day

Delhi High Court finds man guilty of contempt for using petition as weapon, orders him to sit in court.

The Delhi High Court has held a 62-year-old man guilty of contempt of court for using his petition alleging unauthorised construction on certain land parcels situated in Burari as a “weapon” to drive the price of the land down.

As punishment, he was ordered to sit in the court throughout the day.

The court also asked him to deposit ₹1 lakh in the account of the Delhi High Court Legal Service Committee. The man, Pradeep Aggarwal, had filed a petition in 2021 seeking action against unauthorised construction.

Subsequently, one of the parties allegedly carrying out the unauthorised construction claimed that Mr. Aggarwal had demanded a sum of ₹50 lakh from him to withdraw the writ petition.

The court remarked that the status reports filed by the police had revealed that Mr. Aggarwal was in talks with the builders to purchase the property and was, in fact, trying to drive down the price of the land.

The court, in its July 5 order, said the petitioner’s “conduct shows utter disregard and abuse of the court’s process, which the court cannot condone”.