9911796707
TMI Blog2008 (2) TMI 938X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rief: Respondent faced trial for alleged commission for offences punishable under Sections 7 & 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1978 (in short the 'Act'). Learned Special Judge, Sessions Court, Prevention of Corruption Act, Kota in Sessions Case No. 8 of 2001 directed acquittal. The basic reason for directing acquittal was that the prosecution has failed to prove the demand and acceptance of bribe and also that on the day the complainant claimed to have paid the bribe, no work was pending with the accused. The appellant State filed an application for grant of leave. The same has been rejected by the impugned order. To say the least the order is practicably unreasoned. The High Court appears to h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y law. The High Court ought to have in such circumstances granted leave and thereafter as a first court of appeal, re-appreciated the entire evidence on the record independently and returned its findings objectively as regards guilt or otherwise of the accused. It has failed to do so. The questions involved were not trivial. The effect of the admission of the accused in the background of testimony of official witnesses and the documents exhibited needed adjudication in appeal. The High Court has not given any reasons for refusing to grant leave to file appeal against acquittal, and seems to have been completely oblivious to the fact that by such refusal, a close scrutiny of the order of acquittal, by the appellate forum, has been lost once ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... .R. 1148) observed "The giving of reasons is one of the fundamentals of good administration". In Alexander Machinery (Dudley) Ltd. v. Crabtree (1974 ICR 120)(NIRC) it was observed: "Failure to give reasons amounts to denial of justice". Reasons are live links between the mind of the decision-taker to the controversy in question and the decision or conclusion arrived at". Reasons substitute subjectivity by objectivity. The emphasis on recording reasons is that if the decision reveals the "inscrutable face of the sphinx", it can, by its silence, render it virtually impossible for the Courts to perform their appellate function or exercise the power of judicial review in adjudging the validity of the decision. Right to reason is an indispensabl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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