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TMI Blog2013 (3) TMI 595X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y of the collective. In the case at hand, the appellant has been charge-sheeted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for disproportionate assets. The said Act has a purpose to serve. The Parliament intended to eradicate corruption and provide deterrent punishment when criminal culpability is proven. The intendment of the legislature has an immense social relevance. In the present day scenario, corruption has been treated to have the potentiality of corroding the marrows of the economy. There are cases where the amount is small and in certain cases, it is extremely high. The gravity of the offence in such a case, in our considered opinion, is not to be adjudged on the bedrock of the quantum of bribe. An attitude to abuse the official position to extend favour in lieu of benefit is a crime against the collective and an anathema to the basic tenet of democracy, for it erodes the faith of the people in the system. It creates an incurable concavity in the Rule of Law. Be it noted, system of good governance is founded on collective faith in the institutions. If corrosions are allowed to continue by giving allowance to quash the proceedings in corruption cases solely because o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f India pertains to procrastination in trial, gradual corrosion of their social reputation, deprivation of respectable livelihood because of order of suspension passed against the petitioner No. 1 during which he was getting a meagre subsistence allowance and has reached the age of superannuation without being considered for promotion, extreme suffering of emotional and mental stress and strain, and denial of speedy trial that has impaired their Fundamental Right enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution. The asseverations pertaining to long delay in trial have been made on the constitutional backdrop leading to the prayer for quashment of the proceedings of Special Case No. 4 of 1993 pending in the court of learned Special Judge, Greater Bombay. 2. Before we proceed to state the factual score, it is necessary to mention that this is not the first time that the petitioners have approached this Court. They, along with others, had assailed the order of the High Court of Bombay declining to quash the criminal proceedings against the petitioners and others on the ground of delay in investigation and filing of charge sheet in three special leave petitions which were converted to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Allegations against the ladies were abetment for the main offences. As there was delay in conducting the investigation and filing of charge-sheet and disposal of certain interlocutory applications, the High Court of Bombay was moved on 15.4.1997 for quashing of the criminal proceedings. As has been stated earlier, the High Court declined to interfere and, hence, all the accused persons approached this Court in appeal, wherein the criminal case in respect of the old ladies was delinked and quashed. 5. It is asserted in this petition that after this Court disposed of the earlier criminal appeals, charges were framed only on 15.12.2007 nearly after expiry of seven years. It is put forth that during the pendency of the trial, the wife of the petitioner No. 1 has breathed her last on 23.5.2008. It is averred that nearly after four years of framing of charges, on 1.2.2011, Shri Vasant S. Shete, the Investigating Officer, was partly examined by the prosecution and, thereafter, the matter was adjourned on many an occasion. Despite the last opportunity being granted by the learned Special Judge, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y the accused at the stage of framing of charge on the ground that the matter was pending before the High Court. A reference has been made to the order dated 30.1.2003 directing all the accused to remain present on the next date of hearing, i.e., 07.2.2003, for framing of charge. Reference has been made to the orders passed where from it is clear that the accused persons had sought adjournment on the ground that writ petitions were pending before the High Court. It is also put forth that certain applications were filed by the accused persons seeking longer date by giving personal reasons and sometimes on the ground of non- availability of the counsel. It is the case of the prosecution that because of adjournments, the charges could not be framed within a reasonable time but ultimately, on 15.12.2007, the charges were framed. The factual narration would further reveal that certain miscellaneous applications were filed and they were ultimately dismissed on 20.2.2008. On 04.4.2009, an order was passed requiring the counsel for the accused to submit admission and denial of the documents as per the description mentioned in the application under Section 294 of the Code of Criminal Proced ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... issue whether in such a case this Court, in exercise of powers under Article 32 of the Constitution, should quash the criminal trial on the ground of delay, it is requisite to state that in the present petition, we are only concerned with the time spent after 02.3.2001, i.e., the date of pronouncement of the judgment in the earlier criminal appeals, and further the factual matrix as already exposited shows how the delay has occurred. The factum of delay and its resultant effect are to be tested on the basis of the exposition of law by this Court. 12. In Abdul Rehman Antulay and others v. R.S. Nayak and another[(1992) 1 SCC 225], a proponement was advanced that unless a time limit is fixed for the conclusion of the criminal proceedings, the right to speedy trial would be illusory. The Constitution Bench, after referring to the factual matrix and various submissions, opined that there is a constitutional guarantee of speedy trial emanating from Article 21 which is also reflected in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Thereafter, the Court proceeded to state as follows:- 83. But then speedy trial or other expressions conveying the said concept - are necessarily relative in nature. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in such matters instead of a pedantic one. xxx xxx xxx (8)Ultimately, the Court has to balance and weigh the several relevant factors - balancing test or balancing process - and determine in each case whether the right to speedy trial has been denied in a given case. (9) Ordinarily speaking, where the court comes to the conclusion that right to speedy trial of an accused has been infringed the charges or the conviction, as the case may be, shall be quashed. But this is not the only course open. The nature of the offence and other circumstances in a given case may be such that quashing of proceedings may not be in the interest of justice. In such a case, it is open to the court to make such other appropriate order - including an order to conclude the trial within a fixed time where the trial is not concluded or reducing the sentence where the trial has concluded - as may be deemed just and equitable in the circumstances of the case. It has been laid down therein that it is neither advisable nor practicable to fix any time-limit for trial of offences inasmuch as any such rule is bound to be qualified one. 14. In Kartar Singh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de. 4) It is neither advisable, nor feasible, nor judicially permissible to draw or prescribe an outer limit for conclusion of all criminal proceedings. The time-limits or bars of limitation prescribed in the several directions made in Common Cause (I), Raj Deo Sharma (I) and Raj Deo Sharma (II) could not have been so prescribed or drawn and are not good law. The criminal courts are not obliged to terminate trial or criminal proceedings merely on account of lapse of time, as prescribed by the directions made in Common Cause Case (I), Raj Deo Sharma Case (I) and (II). At the most the periods of time prescribed in those decisions can be taken by the courts seized of the trial or proceedings to act as reminders when they may be persuaded to apply their judicial mind to the facts and circumstances of the case before them and determine by taking into consideration the several relevant factors as pointed out in A.R. Antulay case and decide whether the trial or proceedings have become so inordinately delayed as to be called oppressive and unwarranted. Such time-limits cannot and will not by themselves be treated by any Court as a bar to further continuance of the trial or proceedings a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent of NCT of Delhi)[ (2012) 9 SCC 408], a three-Judge Bench, after referring to the pronouncements in P. Ramchandra Rao s case, Zahira Habibulla H. Shekh and another v. State of Gujarat and others[(2004) 4 SCC 158], Satyajit Banerjee and others v. State of West Bengal and others[(2005) 1 SCC 115], pointed out the subtle distinction between the two in the following manner:- 40 Speedy trial and fair trial to a person accused of a crime are integral part of Article 21. There is, however, qualitative difference between the right to speedy trial and the accused s right of fair trial. Unlike the accused s right of fair trial, deprivation of the right to speedy trial does not per se prejudice the accused in defending himself. The right to speedy trial is in its very nature relative. It depends upon diverse circumstances. Each case of delay in conclusion of a criminal trial has to be seen in the facts and circumstances of such case. Mere lapse of several years since the commencement of prosecution by itself may not justify the discontinuance of prosecution or dismissal of indictment. The factors concerning the accused s right to speedy trial have to be weighed vis- -vis the impact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e is founded on collective faith in the institutions. If corrosions are allowed to continue by giving allowance to quash the proceedings in corruption cases solely because of delay without scrutinizing other relevant factors, a time may come when the unscrupulous people would foster and garner the tendency to pave the path of anarchism. 20. It can be stated without any fear of contradiction that corruption is not to be judged by degree, for corruption mothers disorder, destroys societal will to progress, accelerates undeserved ambitions, kills the conscience, jettisons the glory of the institutions, paralyses the economic health of a country, corrodes the sense of civility and mars the marrows of governance. It is worth noting that immoral acquisition of wealth destroys the energy of the people believing in honesty, and history records with agony how they have suffered. The only redeeming fact is that collective sensibility respects such suffering as it is in consonance with the constitutional morality. Therefore, the relief for quashing of a trial under the 1988 Act has to be considered in the above backdrop. 21. It is perceivable that delay has occurred due to dilatory tact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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