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TMI Blog1955 (3) TMI 34X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an appeal by leave granted by the High Court of Allahabad presumably under article 134(1)(c) of the Constitution. The facts are simple. Three persons including the appellant were, at the material time, parcel porters at the railway station Manikpur in the district Banda of Uttar Pradesh. On the night of the 18th June, 1952, they were found by two watchmen of the Watch and Ward staff attached to the railway station, committing theft of certain packets of biscuits by breaking open a railway parcel containing those packets, which as parcel porters, they had occasion to handle. First information of the same was lodged, before the Sub-Inspector, Railway Police, by one Ram Prasad, Head Watchman. The Railway Police filed the charge-sheet under se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... benefit of his consideration of the same. To decide the question of jurisdiction thus raised it is necessary to notice the scheme of the U. P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 (U.P. Act XXVI of 1947) (here in after referred to as the Act) and a few relevant sections of the same. It may be mentioned that the Act appears to have undergone some amendments in the year 1952 and recently in 1955. These amendments have no application to the present case. Under the Act, as it stood at the time of the commission of the offence- and the conviction there for, the scheme thereunder is as follows: Under section 3, the State Government shall, by notification in the official Gazette, establish a Gaon Sabha for every village or group of villages. Under section 4 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al Acts which are within the cognizance of the Panchayati Adalat. Section 379, Indian Penal, Code, is one of the; sections, so enumerated and it is specifically provided that the jurisdiction of the Adalat in respect of this offence is only where the theft of the stolen property does not exceed ₹ 50. 'Section 51(1) provides that not with stand anything contained in the Code of Criminal Pro- cedure, 1898, every case instituted under the Act shall be instituted before the Sarpanch of the Panchayati Adalat of the circle in which the offence is committed. It is also provided under section 55 that no court shall take cognizance of any case which is cognizable under the Act by the Panchayati Adalat unless an 'Order has been passed b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction, the State Government may, by rules, prescribe the constitution of special benches for' determining any dispute arising between any parties or Gaon Sabhas or different circles 'or for any other purpose . One of the rules framed with reference to this subsection which is relevant for the present purpose is rule 84 and is as follows: For the purposes of trial or decision of any case or proceeding parties of which are residents of different circles or different districts or any one of the parties is a resident of a place not governed by the Act, the prescribed authority having jurisdiction over the Panchayati Adalat in which a case or proceeding is instituted or transferred for disposal shall constitute a special bench con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... med under the Act or where there are more than one accused all belonging to the area of the same Gaon Sabha, the constitution of a bench of the Panchayati Adalat for the trial of such a case presents no difficulty. But in the present case it is on the record that one-out of the three accused by name Tulsi belongs to Jubbalpore in Madhya Pradesh. It was, therefore, not possible to constitute a bench in strict compliance with section 49(2) of the Act to try his case. Recourse had, therefore, to be had to section 49(4) and the rules framed thereunder. The relevant rule 84 (which has been quoted above) no doubt provides for the constitution of special benches to try cases where there are more than one accused who are residents of different area ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ould be constituted under section 49 of the Act for the trial of the present case in which there are three accused of whom one is a person belonging to a different State. Now, in these circumstances, it has to be considered whether the trial of this case by the ordinary criminal Court is barred. The bar of the jurisdiction of the ordinary criminal Court is brought about by section 55 of the Act. But it requires to be noticed that the bar which is brought about by the section, is a bar which relates to the case as a whole. Because, in, terms, what it says is no court shall take cognizance of any case which is cognizable under the Act by a Panchayati Adalat . Under section 2(a) of the Act a case is defined as meaning criminal proceedin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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