' SAIDUZZAMAN SIDDIQUI, J.---This order will dispose of the abovementioned two Criminal Original Petitions Nos.24 of 1995 and 8 of 1997 filed by the Managing Director of the Devli Kund Forests and Multipurposes Cooperative Society Limited, praying that contempt proceedings be drawn against the Secretary Forests, N.-W.F.P. (Yar Muhammad Khan), Chief Conservator of Forests (Saadullah Khan) Conservator of Forests. Abbottabad Circle (Muhammad Iqbal Swati) and Divisional Forest Officer, Siran Forest Division, Mansehra (Saadat Khan) for allegedly disobeying/violating the order of this Court dated 31-5-1994.
2. In Civil Appeal No,314 of 1993 filed by respondents herein, against the order of Abbottabad Bench of Peshawar High Court, dated 16-12-1992, this Court while disposing of the appeal, directed as follows:-- "The abovementioned arrangement appears to be quite equitable. We, accordingly, direct that the entire quantity of timber mentioned above, namely 2,65,000 cubic feet, cut by respondents as a result of their exploitation operations in the forests, and 4,75,000 cubic feet of fell trees due to wind fall lying at the site will be sold by the appellants after due publicity, and the sale proceeds to the extent of 3,99,00 cubic feet will be appropriated between the appellants and respondents according to the terms of agreement. The sale proceeds of balance quantity of timber shall be deposited by the appellants in some profit bearing account and will be available for disposal subject to the final decision of pending suit between the parties. The impugned order is modified as stated above and the appeal stands disposed of, accordingly. In the circumstances of the case, we will make no order as to costs. The trial Court shall make every effort to dispose of the suit at an early date."
3. On 4-6-1995 the petitioner (who was respondent in Civil Appeal No, 314 of 1993) filed Criminal Original Petition No,24 of 1995, complaining as follows:- "4. That the respondents have committed contempt of this Honourable Court by wilfully disobeying the order of this august Court in the following manners:--
(a) That out of 1,70,000 CFT timber lying at Gohar Abad Sale Depot 1,52,000 CFT timber has been sold, but the money was not paid to the applicant/petitioner.
(b) That 18,000 CFT timber is still lying and rotting in Gohar Abad Depot due to the change of weather and passage of time. The respondents do not want to obey the order of this Honourable Court.
(c) That the remaining timber lying in the forest and on road side Depot Meelbut is still dumped there and despite the Orders of this august Court, has not been transported wilfully to the market.
This act of the respondents is clear disobedience of this Court Order dated 31-5-1994 passed in C.A.
No, 314 of 1993. The Copy of letter of respondent No,4 to respondent No,3 is attached as Annexure 'A'.
(d) That respondent No,4 was served with a notice by the counsel of the petitioner to comply with the orders of this august Court. Copies of the notice and applications of the petitioner are Annexures 'B' and 'C' to 'I' Copy of Contractor is Annexure "J"."
4. On 1-12-1997, the petitioner filed Criminal Original Petition No,8 of 1997, wherein he alleged as under:- "7. That the respondents in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court transported some timber and disposed it of and subsequently without any reason suspended the work of transportation and sale of the timber on the ground that some fresh timber was mixed with the timber of the society in spite of the fact that the timber was verified by the concerned staff of the Forest Department and transportation passes in respect thereof were issued by the D.F.O. To the Forest Contractor and subsequently the said ground was found to be incorrect by the concerned Range Forest Officer.
8. That the respondents are hell-bent to evade the compliance of the order of this august Court by all means, which are foul out and out, so that the timber in dispute may not reach its destination and deteriorate in value which has already deteriorated to a great extent and resulted in heavy loss to the society and its owners.
9. That when the petitioner protested to the delaying tactics of the respondents and insisted on the strict compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court in its letter and spirit, the respondents, in collusion with the District Magistrate Mansehra, managed and manipulated to get an order passed for the detention of the petitioner under the Maintenance of Public Order, which was however set aside by the High Court on acceptance of Writ Petition filed by the petitioner.
10. That the refusal of the respondents through their words, letters and deeds to implement the order of the Supreme Court is tantamount to deliberate and wilful disobedience of the order of this Court passed in Civil Appeal No,314 of 1993."
' Notices were issued to respondents in both the petitions and in reply they have stated as follows:- - "That in compliance of the judgment of the august Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad dated 31-5,1994 the following steps have already been taken and remaining are in process.
(A) (i) Till todate, 1,91,863.6 Cft converted timber has been transported to Havellian Sale Depot at Goharabad for auction.
(ii) In addition to above 1518.6 Cft converted timber has been unloaded at Mansehra due to certain irregularities detected during the process of transportation of timber to Havellian.
(iii) In this way total 1,93,382.2 Cft converted timber (3,86,764.40 Cft standing volume) has been carried to Havellian/Mansehra under the order of august Supreme Court of Pakistan.
(iv) Out of total quantity of 1,91,863.6 Cft timber transported to Havellian, 1,77,199.9 Cft stands already sold through open auction and the sale proceeds received have been distributed amongst the Society and Forest Department.
(v) Out of total Sale Proceeds the following amount has been paid to Managing Director of the Devli Kund Forest Cooperative Society:--
(a) 60% owner share. Rs,1,91,19,079.07
(b) 20% Operational Fund. Rs,52,68,000.00
(c) Interest. Rs,29,56,923.20 Total Rs,2,73,44.002.07 The above amount of Rs,2,73,44,002.07 has been paid to the Managing Director of the Society through following cross cheques.
Cheque No, and date. Amount (i)361043 dated 30-11-1995. Rs,1,81,98,526.00 (ii)361049 dated 1-2-1996. Rs,16,99,644.60 (iii)361056 dated 2-5-1996. Rs,49.02,777.67 (iv)361063 dated 10-7-1996.Rs,15,43,054.00 (v)361076 dated 22-1-1998. Rs,10,00,000 .00 Total Rs,2,73,44,002.07
(vi) Under rule 9 of revised procedure of Forest Cooperative Societies, the Managing Director of the Society was required to have disbursed the owner share in a manner prescribed but he failed to comply. He also failed to supply copies of paid batches as required under sub-rule (vi) of rule 9 of the revised procedure. He was issued following notices/reminders for supply of copies of paid batches:
(a) D.F.O. Siran letter No,1197/GB, dated 17-9-1996.
(b) D.F.O. Siran letter No,5761/GB, dated 2-5-1997.
(c) D.F.O. Siran letter No,1772/GB, dated 23-9-1997.
(d) (e) D.F.O. Siran letter No,4966/GB, dated 10-1-1998. (Copy of the above letters attached as Annexure-A).
' Lastly, after long persuasion he supplied copies of paid batches in a single lot on 22-1-1998 which are still under the process of scrutiny.
(vii) The Managing Director of the Society has not yet supplied any detail of Rs, 52,68,000 received against the operational charges. Also, it is not made known as to how the amount of Rs,29,56,923 received as interest has been incurred. In this way the judgment of the august Supreme Court of Pakistan stands implemented on the part of Forest Department.
(B) At present at Havellian only 14,064.0 Cft timber is lying at Goharabad Depot out of this 10,074.0 Cft timber has been auctioned and 10% of higher bids received stands deposited into National Bank of Pakistan Mansehra in Account No, 7858. However, the higher bidders have failed to pay the balance amount of price and left the timber who had been issued/given various notices/reminders under various clauses of the auction notice. The process of the cancellation of these sale-deeds are being initiated under the provision of the auction notice and will be cancelled. After this the timber (10,074.0 Cft) will be available for reaction.
' In addition to the above 3,359.3 Cft lying at Havellian was auctioned and the earnest money was recovered from the successful purchasers. However, the highest rate offered were lower than the approved reserved rate and have been rejected. Now the timber i.e, 3,359.3 Cft is being advertised for re-auction.
(C) In order to transport balance quantity of timber dumped at roadside Depot at Meelbut and as per size-wara submitted by Managing Director of the Society following transport passes were issued for transportation of 74,823.3 Cft converted timber to Havellian.
T.P.No, and date. Volume 224 dated 26-6-1994. 53,176.0 Cft Extension of T.P.No,69 Dated 15-1-1994. 21 655.9 Cft Total 74,823.3 Cft ' During the process of transportation Syed Mehr Ali Shah, Managing Director of the Kund-Devli Society connived with carriage contractor Syed Shabir Hussain Shah (real nephew of Syed Mehr Ali Shah) and started carriage of illicitly procured timber and a committee was constituted to- detect the discrepancies being committed during the process of transportation. The said committee verified and detected various discrepancies. (Copy of the report is attached as Annexure-B)
' A notice was issued to Syed Shabir Hussain Shah the carriage contractor vide this Office No,3548/GB, dated 4-1-1997 with copies to Registrar, Supreme Court of Pakistan (Copy attached as Annexure-C). In response to the said notice the carriage contractor filed a civil suit in the Court of Civil Judge-1, Mansehra which is undertrial and the next date is fixed for 14-2-1998.
' It is submitted that the discrepancies/irregularity detected during the process of transportation of timber were stated to be committed in connivance with the Managing Director of the Society, a notice vide D.F.O. Siran Office Letter No, 2564/GB, dated 19-11-1996 with copy endorsed to Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan was addressed to Managing Director of the Society which has not yet been replied/responded (Copy of the notice attached as Annexure-D). Since the Managing Director of the Society violated the terms of the agreement and brought fresh timber admixed in the old, the transport passes issued were withheld till the settlement of the case. At the same time to determine the exact figures of number of Scants and species wise volume and to determine the genuineness of the timber, the Managing Director of the Society was asked to produce the original record i.e, Field Book, Form-A, Form 5 and Form-6 but he failed to comply. In this regard following notices have been issued to M..D. Of the society for production of original exploitation record but he failed to comply:
(a) D.F.O. Siran Letter No,1164/GB, dated 29-9-1996.
(b) D.F.O. Siran Letter No,1948/GB, dated 27-10-1996.
(c) D.F.O. Siran Letter No,2173/GB, dated 5-11-1996.
(d) D . F . 0 . Siran Letter No .3070/GB , dated 9-12-1996.
(e) D.F.O. Siran Letter No,5850/GB, dated 10-5-1997.
(f) D.F.O. Siran Letter No, 1772/GB, dated 23-9-1996. (Copy of the above letters is attached as Annexure-E).
' The Managing Director of the Society is not cooperating and fulfilling his obligation to implement the decision of the august Supreme Court of Pakistan. There is no incident of hesitation or non- cooperation of the Forest Department for implementation of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, but is for the Managing Director of the Society to provide the required necessary record so that a step further is taken."
5. Respondent No,4 was directed to appear in person to explain the remarks made in his letter dated 18-10-1994 addressed to respondent No,3. He is present in person and has tendered unconditional apology for his remarks made in the letter addressed by him to respondent No,3 on 18-10-1994.
6. The grievance of petitioner in his first application/pettition (Cr.O. No,24 of 1997) filed on 4-6-1995, was that the respondents though sold 1,52,000 Cft of timber, have not paid the share of petitioner out of the sale proceed. Another grievance of the petitioner was that 18,000 Cft of timber was lying at Goharabad Depot which was rotting and the balance timber, which was lying in forest and side depot Meelbut, was not transported by respondents for sale in accordance with the orders of this Court. Similarly, the petitioner in the subsequent contempt application/petition (Cr.O.8 of 1997) made general allegations that the respondents had suspended the transportation of balance timber for sale. The respondents in their reply have denied these allegations and have contended that they have paid a sum of Rs,2,73,44,002.00 out of the sale proceed of timber to the petitioner so far. The respondents have further contended that they never refused transportation of the balance timber which was to be done after following the prescribed procedure. Apart from it, they also contended that the delay if any in the transportation of the balance quantity of timber, was partly attributable to the acts of commission and omission on the part of petitioner.
7. It is not necessary now to go into the merits of above allegations and counter-allegations of parties in the case. The learned Advocate-General, N.-W.F.P., has pointed out that the civil suit instituted by the petitioner against the respondents in this behalf has since been disposed of on 27-2-1997 and under the decree of the Court, the petitioner has been found entitled to only 5,35,095 Cft. Of timber as against the quantity of 7,40,000 Cft. Mentioned in the order of this Court dated 31-5-1994. This fact is admitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner. The order dated 31- 5-1994 was passed by this Court on an appeal which arose from, the interim order passed in the civil suit which was then pending before the Trial Court. It is, therefore, quite clear that the order dated 31-5-1994 was to remain operative only until the decision of pending suit and was to take effect subject to the final decree in the suit. The petitioner, therefore, was not entitled, after 27-2- 1997 to ask for transportation of any timber in excess of the quantity decreed in his favour by the Trial Court. The learned counsel for the petitioner has referred to the letters dated 28-7-1994, 18-10- 1994, 6-10-1994, 18-10-1994, 14-3-1995, 28-4-1995 and 27-5-1995, written by the petitioner to the respondents after the orders of this Court dated 31-5-1994. In almost all these letters, the main grievance of the petitioner was that they were not paid their share out of the sale proceeds of timber sold by the respondents. The respondents in their reply, have alleged that they have paid a sum of Rs,2,73,44,000 to respondents through five cheques between the period from 30-11-1995 to 22-1-1998. Payment of these amounts is admitted by the petitioner. These payments were made by the respondents after the last letter dated 27-5-1995 was written by the petitioner to respondents.
There is nothing on record before us to show that the payment of the share of petitioner out of the sale proceeds of timber was unduly delayed by the respondents. The petitioner has failed to bring on record any letter written by him to the respondents complaining of obstruction in the transportation of stored timber during 1996-97 when he was paid the share out of the sale proceeds of the timber. Since a final decree has already been passed in the suit, the right of the parties after 27-2-1997, is to be governed under the decree and not under the orders of this Court.
We, therefore, do not find any justification to proceed with the above applications/petitions for contempt. However, respondent No,3 is warned to be careful in future while referring to the orders passed by the Court in the office communication. The proceedings are dropped. No order as to costs.