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TMI Blog1974 (5) TMI 122X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ctions 399, 402, 147, 307 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 25 of the Arms Act and was sentenced to various terms of imprisonment under various count. The sentences were, however, directed to run concurrently. His appeal was dismissed by a learned single Judge of this Court on 8.10.1969. Mulaim Singh was also prosecuted in Sessions Trial No. 127 of 1966 and was convicted under Section 395, I.P.C. and sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. An appeal filed by him against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by a learned single Judge of this Court on 9-10-1969. On March 2, 1971, an application was made in the appeal arising out of Sessions Trial No. 127 of 1966 praying that the sentences awarded in the two trials and upheld in the appeals there from may be made concurrent under the provisions of Section 397(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 3. Sukh Bam was convicted in Sessions Trial No. 116 of 1968 and sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment under Section 395, I. P. C., by an order dated 14.12. 1963. His appeal (Criminal Appeal No. 390 of 1969) was dismissed by this Court by an order dated 11-2-1971. Sukh Ram was also convicted in Se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder Section 397(1) can also be exercised at the stags when the court records the subsequent conviction. The language employed in Section 397 does not indicate that the discretion to direct that the sentence under the subsequent conviction shall run concurrently with the previous sentence can be exercised at any subsequent stage. 7. The question may be considered from another angle. Section 369 of the Code lays down that no court when it has signed its judgment shall alter or review the same except to correct a clerical error unless permitted by the Code or by any other law for the time being in force. There is no pro. vision in the Code of Criminal Procedure analogous to Order XLVII of the Code of Civil Procedure which empowers the Court to review or revise its judgment, except to correct a clerical error. Section 430 of the Code which applies to all appellate courts, including the High Court, provides that judgments and orders passed by an appellate court upon appeal shall be final, except in the cases provided for in Section 417 and Chapter XXXII of the Code. Section 417 provides for appeal by the State Government to the High Court from an order of acquittal passed by any court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Code is that the sentences would run consecutively. This principle is applicable both in the case of trial and appellate courts. The prohibition against reviewing or altering the judgment is equally applicable to both trial and appellate courts. The word 'alter' means 'to cause to become different in some particular characteristic (as measure, dimension course, arrangement, or inclination) with out changing into something else'. A change in the 'course' or 'arrangement' of the sentence would certainly amount to an alteration of the sentence which forms a part of the judgment. We are of the opinion that neither the trial court nor the appellate court is competent to exercise the discretion conferred under Section 397(1) of the Code after the judgment has been signed. 9. The next question for consideration is whether it would be competent for the High Court in exercise of its power under Section 561-A, Criminal Procedure Code to direct that the sentence of a subsequent conviction to imprisonment shall run concurrently with the previous sentence. This section was introduced in the Code in 1923 to allay doubts expressed in some decisions regarding th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . it shall be for one of the three purposes mentioned in Section 561-A, Cr.P.C., that is, to give effect to an order under the Code, or to prevent the abuse of the process of the Court or to secure the ends of justice. The Court then proceeded to examine the question whether the High Court is possessed of the power to review, revise or reconsider the judgment or order duly pronounced in Criminal Appeals and Criminal Revisions and arrived at the conclusion that under its inherent power the High Court is competent to alter i.e. review, revise or reconsider a judgment or order passed or made in a Criminal Appeal or Revision when necessary to give effect to any order under the Code or to prevent the abuse of the process of the Court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice but the inherent power shall be exercised in exceptional circumstances only without in any way acting contrary to the intention of the legislature. The inherent power is not meant to reassess the evidence or to introduce fresh materials on the record for the purpose of deciding the matter afresh but it would be a proper exercise of the inherent power where the trial has been a mockery or the code of conviction, if ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rgoing a sentence of imprisonment as a result of his conviction in an earlier criminal trial but due to an oversight the Court omits to exercise its disertion of making the sentence on subsequent conviction run concurrently with the previous sentence, it would be a fit case for exercise of the inherent power of the Court under Section 561-A of the Code to male the two sentences run concurrently on the principle that the accused should not be made to suffer on account of the omission of the Court to apply its mind to the discretionary power vested in it under the Code. If the fact of the previous conviction and sentence is brought to the notice of the Court dealing with the subsequent trial, whether as an original court or as an appellate court, it is the duty of the Court dealing with the subsequent trial to apply its mind to the question whether the sentence on subsequent conviction should be made concurrent with the previous sentence and if the Court for one reason on the other fails to apply its mind to that question, it would be in the interest of justice that the High Court rectifies that mistake under its inherent power. In such a situation the Court would not be acting contr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aid trials run concurrently. The record does not disclose that the incidents leading to the aforesaid trials were in any sense connected. In normal Bourse the sentence awarded to the applicants in the subsequent convictions would commence after the expiry of the imprisonment to which they have been previously sentenced. In these circumstances we find no justification for exercise of our inherent power under Section 581-A of the Code. The applicants appear to be hardened criminals. We do not feel that the ends of justice require that the sentences should be made to run concurrently. No question of giving effect to any order under the Code or to prevent the abuse of the process of any court is involved in these cases. 15. Learned Counsel for the applicants referred to us certain cases in which this court in exercise of its inherent powers directed that the sentence on subsequent conviction should run concurrently with the previous sentence. In Ulfat's case (supra) it was observed that the conviction of the applicants was based on identification and there was no allegation against them of any rapacity or undue violence while committing the dacoity. The same reasoning was applied ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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