9911796707
TMI Blog1988 (11) TMI 118X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion by the said complainant to the Public Prosecutor to conduct prosecution is invalid as he is not empowered to do so. Even if there is any authorisation, such authorisation is illegal since the said Special Public Prosecutor is not a pleader to appear for any Department other than the Central Government. Even as per the terms of the appointment order, they are not empowered to conduct prosecution on behalf of the complainant in these cases. Another contention raised is that in respect of these offences, first-information-reports had been registered by the C.B.I. police and that no final report was filed so far; but the private complaints have been filed. In view of Section 210(1), Code of Criminal Procedure, the complainant's proceedings have to be stayed till the receipt of final reports from police and that the Court below should call for a report from the police officer who has registered the case. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate overruled these objections. Aggrieved by the same, these revisions and Crl. M.Ps. were filed for setting aside the order as well as quashing the proceedings. 2. As far as the first question is concerned whether the Senior Public Prosec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rised by Court to conduct the same. In support of his contentions, the learned counsel invited my attention to certain decisions. In Kannappan v. Abbas and Others -1985 L.W. (Crl.) 159 it was held: "Under Section 25 of the Criminal Procedure Code, A.P.Ps. are appointed by the Government only for conducting prosecutions in the Courts and they are full-time Government servants. In other words, they are not advocates or legal practitioners entitled to practise as advocates, and their duty, as their designation itself mentions, is only to conduct prosecution on behalf of the State. To put it differently they have no right to practise or take briefs to defend the accused in criminal cases. It is clear from the very scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure that the A.P.P. cannot defend an accused as there is no provision for the same in the Code. Of course, Rule 69 of the Criminal Rules of Practice gives the magistrate a discretion to permit persons other than legal practitioners authorised by any law to practise in such Court to appear in the criminal proceedings before him. But, this rule deals with only 'private pleaders' and it has no application to the A.P.Ps. who are statutorily ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Assistant Public Prosecutors under the administrative and disciplinary control of the Superintendent of Police at the district level and the Inspector General of Police at the State level is inconsistent with Section 25 of the Code and hence liable to be set aside." 5. It is pointed out by Mr. Sriramulu, Special Public Prosecutor for C.B.I, that the said decision was reversed by a Division Bench in State v. Jai Pal Singh -1978 All. L.J. 936. Hence, no reliance could be placed on the said decision. In view of the fact that the said decision was reversed, no reliance could be placed on the same. Yet another decision cited by the learned counsel is AX. Sud v. S.C. Gudimani -1981 Crl. L.J. 1779. In that case also, it was held : "Public Prosecutor cannot appear against State as well as on behalf of the accused even in complaint case." The observations made in the said judgment would be useful for deciding this case: "The Public Prosecutor whether retained or salaried can work for only one client, that is, the State. To yield to any other position, will be to damage the dignity, impartiality or efficiency of the office." 6. Here in this case, the Public Prosecutors and Spec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Control) Act, 1947 the officers authorised in this behalf by the Central Government by general or special order alone are competent to file complaints for offences punishable under Section 5 of the Act and the Court is also empowered to take cognisance upon such complaint in writing. It is only by virtue of the above provision, these complaints were filed by the Joint Controller of Imports and Exports. According to the learned counsel, the Central Government is empowered to appoint Special Public Prosecutor who has got a minimum standing practice of ten years at the Bar. The learned counsel submitted that even if it is construed that those complaints were not filed by the Central Government and the appointment of the Public Prosecutor was made for the conduct of any case or class of cases, yet by virtue of Section 302, Cr. P.C. the Court has got ample power to permit any person to conduct prosecution and as per the Court below, it is clearly mentioned that the Special Public Prosecutor was permitted to conduct prosecution. It is also pointed out by the Special Public Prosecutor that along with the complaint, such authorisation was also filed. In most of these cases, a number of wit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n writing made by an officer authorised in this behalf by the Central Government by general or special order and the question of filing charge-sheet or filing report under Section 173(2) does not arise. Mr. Sriramulu, Special Public Prosecutor for C.B.I, would submit that in all these cases only after the investigation was completed and after getting reports, in view of the prohibition under Section 6 of the Act, the complaint is filed by the officer concerned and as such the filing of charge-sheet at a later stage by police is not contemplated and consequently, Section 210 Cr. P.C. is not attracted. In Food Inspector, Paravathipuram Municipality v. Ganta China Sriramulu and Another - 1988 (1) Crimes 70, Food Inspector filed a complaint under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, and the same ended in acquittal. An appeal was filed against the order of acquittal through Public Prosecutor. Then the question arose whether memo of appearance is to be filed on behalf of the Food Inspector. It was held : "whenever any public servant filed a complaint and in the event of acquittal if he wants to prefer an appeal and he entrusts the same to the Public Prosecutor, the insistence of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
