TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Stay – Meaning
2. Staying Proceedings
3. Case-Law

Stay – Meaning:-

Stay of operation of an order means that the order which has been stayed would not be operative from the date of the passing of the stay order. It does not mean that the said order has been wiped out from existence, Shree Chamundi Mopeds Ltd. v. Church of South India Trust Assn., (1992) 3 SCC 1.

Staying Proceedings:-

By the Judicature Act, 1875, S. 24(5), the courts have power to stay proceedings in cases where an injunction or prohibition could formerly have been obtained, but in which such course, by the consolidation of the superior courts, is now put an end to. Every court has an undoubted inherent jurisdiction to stay proceedings on the ground that they are an abuse of the process of the Court (see per Vaughan-Williams, L.J., in Norton’s Settlement, In re, (1908) 1 Ch at p. 471, approving Egbert v. Short, (1907) 2 Ch 205). 

Case- Law:-

1. Appeal – Quashing of an order and staying operation of an order – Difference in effect of. See. Shree Chamundi Mopeds Ltd. v. Church of …, (1992) 3 SCC 1
2. The order of stay is not automatic. Therefore,-even an order of extension of stay need not be automatic…,Extension of Stay Order, In re, 2014 SCC OnLine CESTAT 4714.
3. Stay of operation of . See. Ravi S. Naik v. Union of India, 1994 Supp (2) SCC 641.
4. Stay of operation of an order – Effect – Unless stay order is set aside it continues… See. Ravi S. Naik v. Union of India, 1994 Supp (2) SCC 641.
5. Civil contempt : General principles – Non-compliance with ineffective stay order – Effect. See. Debabrata Bandhopadhyaya v. State of W.B, (1969) 1 SCR 304. Held:- A question whether there is contempt of court or not is a serious one. The court is both the accuser as well as the judge of the accusation. It behaves the court to act with as great circumspection as possible making all allowances for errors of judgment and difficulties arising from inveterate practices in courts and tribunals. It is only when a clear case of contumacious conduct not explainable otherwise, arises that the condemner must be punished. It must be realised that our system of courts often results in delay of one kind or another. The remedy for it is reform and punishment departmentally. Punishment under the law of Contempt is called for when the lapse is deliberate and in disregard of one’s duty and in defiance of authority. To take action in an unclear case is to make the law of contempt do duty for other measures and is not to be encouraged.