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2008 (3) TMI 734 - SC - Indian LawsNature of jurisdiction of the High Court u/s 482 of the Code - Registration of a crime and Investigation - Principles Of Natural Justice - Administrative control of the High Court - High court's master for the roster - Anonymous petition treated as Public interest Litigation or not - Whether the individual Judges ought to entertain communications and letters personally addressed to them and initiate action - Whether the contents of the petition submitted by the victim and as well as the allegations made in the anonymous complaint reveal any cause for issuing directions relieving the Investigating Officer of his statutory power and duty to investigate Crime No. 381 of 2005 under Section 376(g) of the Indian Penal Code? - Ld Judge was of the view that the subsequent petition sent by Mini Varghese dated 27.10.2005 ought to have been treated as a separate petition praying for an order for proper investigation. The learned Judge was also of the view that the said petition was required to be clubbed with the anonymous petition. HELD THAT:- The power has to be exercised sparingly, carefully and with caution only where such exercise is justified by the tests laid down in the Section itself. It is well settled that Section 482 does not confer any new power on the High Court but only saves the inherent power which the court possessed before the enactment of the Code. There are three circumstances under which the inherent jurisdiction may be exercised, namely (i) to give effect to an order under the Code, (ii) to prevent abuse of the process of Court, and (iii) to otherwise secure the ends of justice. Can investigation be ordered by the High Court in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code based on such vague and indefinite allegations made in unsigned petition without even arriving at any prima facie conclusion that the contents thereof reveal commission of any cognizable offence - In our view, the High Court in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction cannot change the Investigating Officer in the midstream and appoint any agency of its own choice to investigate into a crime on whatsoever basis and more particularly on the basis of complaints or anonymous petitions addressed to a named Judge. Such communications cannot be converted into suo motu proceedings for setting the law in motion. Neither the accused nor the complainant or informant are entitled to choose their own investigating agency to investigate a crime in which they may be interested. We find that the High Court has merely quoted certain allegations made against the appellant and others and proceeded on the basis of those allegations made in the anonymous petition without forming any prima facie opinion with regard to those allegations. It is well settled that a public interest litigation can be entertained by the Constitutional Courts only at the instance of a bona fide litigant. The author of the letter in this case is anonymous, there is no way to verify his bonafides and in fact no effort was made by the Court to verify about the authenticity, truth or otherwise of the contents of the petition. It is not the case of the appellant that no Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India can be entertained on the strength of a letter addressed by a bona fide litigant to the High Court. This Court in Sunil Batra (II) Vs. Delhi Administration [1978 (8) TMI 228 - SUPREME COURT] has accepted a letter written to the Supreme Court by one Sunil Batra, a prisoner from Tihar Jail, Delhi complaining of inhuman torture in the jail. The law in this regard is summarized in Janata Dal Vs. H.S. Chowdhary [1992 (8) TMI 301 - SUPREME COURT] held that: It is clear that only a person acting bona fide and having sufficient interest in the proceeding of PIL will alone have a locus standi and can approach the Court to wipe out the tears of the poor and needy, suffering from violation of their fundamental rights, but not a person for personal gain or private profit or political motive or any oblique consideration. Similarly, a vexatious petition under the colour of PIL brought before the Court for vindicating any personal grievance, deserves rejection at the threshold. How to verify the credentials, character or standing of the informant who does not disclose his identity? In the instant case, there is no whisper in the order passed by the High Court about any attempts made to verify the credentials, character or standing of the informant. Obviously, the High Court could not have verified the same since the petition received by it is an unsigned one. In our view, the Public Interest Litigant must disclose his identity so as to enable the court to decide that the informant is not a wayfarer or officious intervener without any interest or concern. In such view of the matter the suo motu action initiated cannot be treated as the one in public interest litigation. Administrative control of the High Court vests in the Chief Justice of the High Court alone and it is his prerogative to distribute business of the High Court both judicial and administrative; that the Chief justice is the master of the roster. He alone has the prerogative to constitute benches of the court and allocate cases to the benches so constituted; and the puisne judges can only do that work as is allotted to them by the Chief Justice or under his directions; that the puisne judges cannot pick and choose any case pending in the High Court and assign the same to himself or themselves for disposal without appropriate orders of the Chief Justice. State of Rajasthan Vs. Prakash Chand & Ors.[1997 (12) TMI 657 - SUPREME COURT]. In our view, the learned judge ought not to have entertained the anonymous petition, contents of which remain unverified and made it basis for setting the law in motion as against the appellant as he was not entrusted with the judicial duty of disposing of PIL matters. Therefore, directions issued by the High Court constituting the Special Investigation Team to investigate into the allegations made in anonymous petition are set aside. The individual judges ought not to entertain communications and letters personally addressed to them and initiate action on the judicial side based on such communication so as to avoid embarrassment; that all communications and petitions invoking the jurisdiction of the court must be addressed to the entire Court, that is to say, the Chief Justice and his companion Judges. The individual letters, if any, addressed to a particular judge are required to be placed before the Chief Justice for consideration as to the proposed action on such petitions. Each Judge cannot decide for himself as to what communication should be entertained for setting the law in motion be it in PIL or in any jurisdiction. RELIEF - However, the fact remains that the Circle Inspector of Police, Chalakuddy having registered Crime No. 381 of 2005 made investigation in exercise of statutory power coupled with duty under the orders of learned Judicial First Class Magistrate, Chalakuddy. The learned Judge having entertained the petition/complaint from the victim ordered further investigation into the crime by the Special Investigation Team headed by the third respondent. The third respondent having completed the investigation arrived at certain conclusions but unnecessarily kept the matter pending on the ground that the paternity of the first child is to be verified with the accused and some other persons who were also found closely associated with the victim during the relevant period. This is beyond one’s imagination as to how and why such an inquiry is required to be made. The First Information Report, material gathered during the investigation, contents of the victim’s complaint and conclusions drawn by the Special Investigation Team themselves do not justify any such further enquiry. Thus, we direct the third respondent to make available the material gathered during the course of investigation in Crime No. 381 of 2005 to the Circle Inspector of Police, Chalakuddy (Investigating Officer) within two weeks from the date of the receipt of copy of this order. Thereafter, the Investigating Officer shall submit appropriate report in accordance with the provisions of the Code within four weeks before the Magistrate who shall consider the report to be so filed judicially in accordance with law. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion whatsoever on the merits of the case - Subject to the above directions the impugned order of the High Court is set aside - Appeal is accordingly allowed.
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