The Supreme Court on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Deepak Chhabria, former chairman and managing director of Finolex Cables, for attempting to “overreach” the orders of the court in his succession battle with cousin Prakash Chhabria.

The top court also ordered the official scrutiniser of the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) to pay a fine of Rs 10 lakh for acting in concert with Deepak Chhabria in wilfully flouting the court’s order.

This is the first time the apex court imposed such a large sum for contempt of court.

The Supreme Court held that a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench, comprising judicial member Rakesh Kumar and technical member Alok Srivastava, acted in “wilful defiance” of its October 13 order by going ahead with the pronouncement of their verdict in the Finolex Cables case.

The top court, however, closed the contempt proceedings against them after taking note of the subsequent resignation by the judicial member and unconditional apology tendered by technical member Srivastava.

The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said both Kumar and Srivastava had wilfully violated its October 13 order not to pronounce its verdict in the matter relating to the appointment of Deepak Chhabria as the chairman of Finolex Cables.

The court concluded after viewing the CCTV proceedings of the October 13 hearing of the NCLAT during which counsel appearing for the Prakash Chhabria group had brought to the notice of the NCLAT bench about the order of the Supreme Court restraining it from pronouncing any judgment, which was however, breached by the bench.