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TMI Blog2004 (4) TMI 641X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... yed by the well known saying varying according to the chancellors foot . Arbitrariness has been always held to be the anathema of judicial exercise of any power, all the more so when such orders are amenable to challenge further before higher forums. This Court has repeatedly laid down that as the First Appellate Court the High Court even while dealing with an appeal against acquittal was also entitled and obliged as well to scan through and if need be reappreciate the entire evidence, though while choosing to interfere only the court should find an absolute assurance of the guilt on the basis of evidence on record and not merely because the High Court could take one more possible or a different view only. Except the above, in the matter of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts: Sushil Kumar Jain, H.D. Thanvi and Ruchi Kohli, Advs. ORDER 1. The above appeal has been filed by the State of Rajasthan against the order of a learned Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court dated 31.5.2001 in S.B. Crl.A. No. 88 of 2001 thereunder the learned Judge in the High Court has passed the following order while refusing to grant leave and consequently rejected the appeal : "Heard learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the judgment impugned and the record available with learned Public Prosecutor. I do not find any error in the judgment impugned. No case for grant of leave is made out. Accordingly, this leave to appeal is hereby rejected." 2. Mr. Sushil Kumar Jain, learned counsel appearing for the respondents stre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the appellant-State contended that the omission to give reasons is per se a vitiating factor and that vitiates the order of the High Court, as held in catena of cases. 3. We have carefully considered the submissions of the learned counsel appearing on either side. This Court in 2004CriLJ1385 State of Orissa v.Dhaniram Luhar, has while reiterating the view expressed in the earlier cases for the past two decades emphasized the necessity, duty and obligation of the High Court to record reasons in disposing of such cases. The hall mark of a judgment/order and exercise of judicial power by a judicial forum is to disclose the reasons for its decision and giving of reasons has been always insisted upon as one of the fundamentals of sound adm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of law. The provision for seeking leave to appeal is in order to ensure that no frivolous appeals are filed against orders of acquittal, as a matter of course, but that does not enable the High Court to mechanically refuse to grant leave by mere cryptic or readymade observations, as in this case, (the court does not find any error), with no further on the face of it, indication of any application of mind whatsoever. All the more so when the orders of the High Court are amenable for further challenge before this Court. Such ritualistic observations and summary disposal which has the effect of, at times, and as in this case, foreclosing statutory right of appeal, though a regulated one cannot be said to be a proper and judicial manner dispo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch merely because one was against conviction or the other against an acquittal. 4. The attempt to draw an analogy on the power of this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India and the practice of rejecting appeals at the SLP stage invariably without assigning reasons with the one to be exercised while dealing with an application for leave to appeal under Section 378 Cr.P.C. has no meaning and is illogical. First of all, the High Court is not the final court in the hierarchy and its orders are amenable to challenge before this court, unlike the obvious position that there is no scope for any further appeal from the order made declining to grant special leave to appeal. It has been on more than one occasion reiterated that Articl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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