Status Quo Binds Until Vacated: Rajasthan High Court Holds Respondents Guilty of Contempt Over Construction on Disputed Plot

On 29 November 1999, in S.B. Civil Second Appeal No. 360/1999, the High Court directed the parties to maintain status quo over the property in question; the second appeal is still pending (para 1). The petitioners alleged that the respondents raised construction on the plot, relying on photographs of the vacant plot with thatched sheds and then of the construction (para 1). The respondents replied that an existing room had become dilapidated and was about to collapse, that they only repaired and renovated it in good faith, and that they could not stay in touch with their counsel because the appeal saw no effective proceedings before 2020. Their reply also tendered an unconditional apology and sought leniency (paras 2, 4).

The Court read the respondents' reply as, in substance, an admission that they undertook construction or renovation work on the disputed property while the interim order subsisted (para 5). Their explanation was that they were repairing an existing dilapidated room. But the status-quo order had not been 'modified, vacated or recalled', so they could not undertake any construction or renovation without seeking the Court's permission (para 5). The Court added that even during the COVID-19 pandemic it continued to function and to entertain applications for modification of interim orders or for permission to carry out necessary repairs; admittedly, no such application was filed (para 5). Losing touch with their lawyers because the appeal was dormant was no justification for disregarding an operative order, since the obligation to comply bound the parties 'irrespective of the progress of the appeal' (para 5). On the admitted position, the Court found deliberate and wilful disobedience of the order of 29 November 1999, and held that the explanation did not absolve the respondents (para 6).