Higher courts are required to follow judicial discipline and comity to uphold the law: Supreme Court.
Case title: Directorate Of Enforcement vs Niraj Tyagi
Case no.: Criminal Appeal No. 843 Of 2024
Decided on: 13.02.2024
Quorum: Hon’ble Justice Bela M. Trivedi, Hon’ble Justice Prasanna B. Varale
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The appellants filed this appeal because they were dissatisfied with the interim orders issued by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Misc. Writ Petition. The High Court has stayed the proceedings of the FIRs registered against the concerned respondents-accused, as well as the proceedings of the Directorate of Enforcement against the concerned respondents, and has further directed that no coercive action be taken against the respondents pending the writ petitions.
APPELLANTS CONTENTION:
They claimed that the Court issued an order staying the proceedings of the ECIR and the FIRs registered against the respondents without hearing the ED, so the ED filed a Review Petition, which is currently pending before this Court. He went on to argue that the High Court’s orders to stay the ECIR and FIR proceedings lacked compelling reasons.
RESPONDENTS CONTENTION:
The Counsel appearing for the respondents in the appeal, referring the Court to the proceedings conducted under the SARFAESI Act and before the High Court and this Court, contended that the respondent-complainant Shipra Group, having failed in all of the aforementioned proceedings, had turned to criminal proceedings to instill fear in the financial institution and its officers.
COURT ANALYSIS AND JUDGEMENT:
The court ruled that the High Court issued the impugned orders staying the investigations into the FIRs and ECIR in question in complete disregard of the previously established legal position. Without undermining the High Court’s authority under Section 482 of the CrPC to quash the proceedings if the allegations in the FIR or complaint do not appear to constitute an offence against the accused, or if the criminal proceedings are found to be manifestly malafide or malicious, instituted with an ulterior motive, etc.
They opined that the High Court could not have stayed the investigations and prevented the investigating agencies from looking into the cognizable offences alleged in the FIRs and ECIR, especially since the investigations were still in their early stages.
The court stated that it is sufficient to say that judicial comity and judicial discipline require higher courts to follow the law. The court’s extraordinary and inherent powers do not grant it arbitrary jurisdiction to act at its discretion.
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Written by – Surya Venkata Sujith