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CASE NO.: Appeal (crl.)  1004 of 2006

PETITIONER: Nathu @ Paras Ram                                                        

RESPONDENT: State of Rajasthan                                                               

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 31/10/2006

BENCH: S.B. Sinha & Dalveer Bhandari

JUDGMENT: JUDGMENT

O R D E R

       Perused the report of the Registrar (Judicial) dated 26.09.2006.  The  special leave petition was filed on 10.06.2004, which was sent by one Nathu  @ Parasram, who is in custody.   He had sent a copy of the judgment passed  by the High Court.  The record was, however, put up on 04.09.2006.    

It is in the aforementioned premise that an inquiry was directed to be  conducted.  The Registrar (Judicial), in his report, inter alia, stated that the  office had sent for the records of the courts below  which caused delay.   

Our attention in this behalf has been drawn to  Order XXI Rule 8 of  the Supreme Court Rules, 1966+, relevant portion whereof is in the  following terms :         "8. (1) If the petitioner is in jail and is not  represented by an advocate on record he may present his  petition for special leave to appeal together with the  certified copy of the Judgment and any written argument  which  he may desire to advance to the officer-in-charge  of the jail, who shall forthwith forward the same to the  Registrar of this Court.  Upon receipt of the said petition,  the Registrar of the Court shall,  whenever necessary call,  from the proper officer of the Court or the Tribunal  appealed from, the relevant  documents for determination  of the petition for special leave to appeal.

       (2)     As soon as all necessary documents are  available the Registrar shall, assign an Advocate from a  panel of amicus curiae and thereafter place the petition  and complete documents for hearing before the Court.   The fee of the advocate so engaged shall be Rs.250/- upto  the admission stage and a lump sum not exceeding  Rs.500/- for the hearing of the appeal arising therefrom,  as may be fixed by the Bench hearing the appeal, and in  an appropriate case, the Bench hearing the case may for  the reasons to be recorded in writing, sanction payment  of a lump sum not exceeding Rs.750/-."

                Rules framed by this Court must be read in consonance with the  fundamental rights of the prisoners.  A prisoner when sends a petition or an  appeal from jail, the same requires immediate attention of this Court.  The  Court while entertaining a special leave petition having regard to the facts  and circumstances of the case, may suspend his sentence or allow his prayer  for bail.  Each petition is accompanied by a copy of the judgment of the  High Court, which is supplied free of charge to the prisoners.  It does not,  therefore, appear to be reasonable that in each and every case when the

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matter is being placed before the Registry, the records would be sent for and  when they are in vernacular language, the same would be translated into  English.   The Rule no doubt permits the Registrar to call for documents, but the  same is required to be done only when the same is found to be necessary and  not otherwise.  Records of the case should not, thus, be called for in a  mechanical manner.    We, therefore, direct that when the special leave petitions are  forwarded through the officer-in-charge of the jail along with certified copy  of the judgment, the same should  urgently be placed before the Court.  The  first listing of the case should not be delayed.  At best an office note be  placed that the translated copy of the records has not been sent;  and if the  records are directed to be called for, the same are required to be translated.   It is only in cases where records are required to be called for, the same  should be done; as otherwise it may await the order of the Court.  We direct  the Registry to act in terms of this order in future.