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PETITIONER: MANOHAR M.  GALANI

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: ASHOK N.  ADVANI & ANR.

DATE OF JUDGMENT:       17/11/1999

BENCH: R.P.Sethi, G.B.Pattanaik

JUDGMENT:

     PATTANAIK, J.

     Leave  granted.   The order of the Gujarat High  Court quashing  the  complaints as well as  further  investigation taken  up by the police stations and also setting aside  all the  proceedings  in Criminal Miscellaneous Application  No. 5722  of 1994 in C.R.  No.  211 of 1994 is being  challenged in  these  appeals at the instance of the complainant.   The complaints  are the outcome of nefarious incident that  took place  in  Dakor Court in the district of Kheda in State  of Gujarat.   It  was revealed in the newspaper that  from  the said  Court  warrants can be issued against any one by  mere asking  for  and  in  fact from the  said  Court  at  Dakor, non-bailable  warrants had been issued against Justice  M.L. Pendse,  the then acting Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. So far as the complaints which have been quashed by the High Court  of  Gujarat,  it  was  alleged  that  family  of  the complainant  came in contact with the accused, Mr.   Kishore Keswani  who  had lot of political influence.  Mr.   Kishore Keswani had invested money in shares and stocks and when the share  market  crashed  in Mumbai  Stock  Exchange,  several depositors/investors sustained loss.  Shri Keswani, however, made  the  complainant  responsible and pressurised  him  to compensate  the  loss.    Notwithstanding  several  pressure tactics,  when  the  complainant  did  not  succumb  to  the pressure,  the  said  Shri  Keswani  lodged  false  criminal complaints against the complainant and his family members in various  places  and Ulhasnagar.  He was also successful  in obtaining warrants of arrest against the complainant and his family  members  and the complainant and his family  members were  arrested  and  lodged in various police  stations  and jails.   It  was further alleged in the complaint  that  the moment the complainant or any of his family members would be released  on bail in one case, they would be made accused in some other case and would be arrested.  The complainant took the  assistance  of a local Press reporter from  Mumbai  and exposed  the entire scandal that was happening in the  Court at Dakor.  A social activist when came to know of the entire episode  from  the  newspaper, he filed a writ  petition  in public  interest  before  the Gujarat High Court  which  was registered  as Special Civil Application No.  13258 of 1994, and  in  that  petition,  prayer   was  made  for   suitable directions  to the Government of Gujarat and Bar Council  of Gujarat.   On  the said public interest petition,  the  High Court  directed the Director General of Police to conduct an

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inquiry  and submit report.  Several reports were  submitted to the Gujarat High Court which according to the complainant would  establish  his innocence and innocence of his  family members  who were being unnecessarily harassed by false  and frivolous  criminal proceedings.  It further transpires that the  High  Court  on  the administrative  side  took  action suspending  the  Judicial Magistrate at Dakor Court  in  the district  Kheda and no final decision had been taken in  the pending  public interest petition.  At this stage, when  the complaints  were lodged by the complainant which were  being investigated   into,  the  accused   persons  named  in  the complainant  case moved the High Court and the High Court by the impugned order quashed the two complaints as well as the public  interest  petition which was pending before  it  and hence the present appeals.

     Mr.    Gopal  Subramanium,   learned  senior   counsel appearing  for the complainant submitted that the High Court obviously  exceeded its jurisdiction in quashing the FIRs as well  as  the  pending public interest  petition  whereunder certain inquiries were directed by the High Court itself, on a finding that Section 195 will get attracted.  According to Mr.   Subramanium,  gross irregularities having  alleged  to have  been  committed  by  the   accused  persons  and   the complainants  having  been  harassed unduly by  the  accused persons,  the  High  Court  could  not  have  throttled  the investigation  and quashed the proceedings on a finding that Section 195 would be a bar to proceed further.  According to Mr.   Gopal  Subramanium, the bar under Section 195  of  the Code  of  Criminal Procedure can be gone into at  the  stage when  the  Court  takes  cognizance of the  offence  and  an investigation on the basis of the information received could not  have been quashed and an investigating agency cannot be throttled   at   this  stage   from  proceeding   with   the investigation  particularly when the charges are serious and grave.   Learned  counsel for the respondents on  the  other hand   contended  that  the   various  subject  matters   of complainant  are already being inquired into and, therefore, allowing  any further inquiry or complaint if allowed to  be proceeded  with,  it will be an abuse of the process of  the Court.  Learned counsel for the respondents, however, fairly conceded  that  the Court was not justified in quashing  the public  interest  petition  which  has  been  registered  as Criminal  Miscellaneous Application No.5722 of 1994 in  C.R. No.  211 of 1994.

     So  far as the public interest petition is  concerned, not  only  the counsel for both sides agreed that  the  same ought  not  to  have  been set aside but  we  also  fail  to understand how the High Court in exercise of its power under extraordinary  jurisdiction can interfere with a  co-lateral proceeding  initiated  by  the  High   Court  itself  in  an application  filed in public interest .  There cannot be any dispute  that  the facts revealed a serious scandal  in  the functioning  of  some  subordinate  Court in  the  State  of Gujarat  and,  therefore, the High Court took cognizance  of the  matter and directed inquiry to be conducted, and on the basis of the said inquiry, it was open for the High Court to issue  necessary  directions and at that stage the  impugned order has emanated.  In our considered opinion, the order in the  impugned  judgment setting aside the  aforesaid  public interest  petition is erroneous and we, therefore, set aside the  said order and direct that the public interest petition should  be  considered  by the High Court on merits  on  the basis  of the reports submitted to the Court and appropriate

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directions be given whatever the Court thinks fit.

     So  far as the quashing of the complaints and  inquiry on  the  basis  of  FIR registered by  the  complainant  are concerned,  we  also  find  that  the  High  Court  was  not justified  in  interfering  with the same and  quashing  the proceedings  by an elaborate discussion on the merits of the matter  and in coming to the conclusion that Section 195  of the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure will be a  bar.   In  our opinion,  it was rather premature for the High Court to come to  the  aforesaid conclusion and on account of  the  orders passed,  the investigation into several serious  allegations are  being  throttled.  We, therefore, set aside the  orders quashing  the  two  complaints and  the  investigation  made thereunder  and  direct  that  those cases  may  proceed  in accordance  with law.  Needless to mention that our  setting aside  the impugned order does not tantamount to  expression of our opinion on merits and the accused, therefore, may not feel  aggrieved  and  are entitled to take  any  appropriate remedy that is available to them under the law.

     Criminal Appeals are allowed in the above terms.