TMI Blog2001 (10) TMI 1143X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f Bhujia and other allied products with the trade mark HALDIRAM BHUJIAWALA. According to the averments made in the complaint, the partnership business was initially commenced in the year 1956 with four partners, namely, Ganga Bishan Agarwal, Moolchand Agarwal, Rameshwarlal Agarwal and Satidas Agarwal. Rameshwar Aggarwal retired from the firm in the year 1958. The firm was reconstituted by admitting Shri Shivkishan Aggarwal as partner in place of the retiring partner. They started using the brand name HALDIRAM BHUJIAWALA in the year 1965. The appellant was admitted as a partner of the said firm on 31st October, 1969. An application for registration of trademark of HALDIRAM BHUJIAWALA and Logo HRB was filed with the appropriate authority by all the partners on 29th December, 1972. The said application was advertised inviting objections. Opposition proceedings were commenced at the instance of one Madanlal on 12th January, 1976 which was rejected on 16.4.1980 and the trademark was registered on 27th January, 1981 in the name of the firm, of which the appellant was a partner. The appellant alleged that when in the first week of June, 1999 she went to Delhi to attend her ailing son Asho ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing of the proceedings initiated and process issued against them. Their application was allowed vide the order impugned, hence the present appeal. 5. Mr. V.A. Mohta, Sr. Advocate appearing for the appellant submitted that the impugned judgment is in conflict with the various judgments of this court. It is submitted that merely because a civil action is pending between the parties can be no ground to quash the proceedings as between the civil and criminal proceedings, the criminal matters should be given precedence and that only because the genuineness of the documents is required to be determined in both the proceedings, the High Court was not justified in quashing the proceedings. It is submitted that the nature of criminal proceedings and the onus of proof required in such proceedings being different than the proceedings in the civil suit, the High Court committed a mistake by quashing the proceedings. 6. Per Contra Shri U.R. Lalit, Sr. Advocate supported the judgment of the High Court and submitted that besides law, propriety demanded that when a higher court was seized of the matter, though in civil proceedings, magistrate should have not proceeded with the matter by issu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... justified in quashing the proceedings on that ground. Absence of the requisite sanction may, for instance, furnish cases under this category. Cases may also arise where the allegations in the First Information Report or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety, do not constitute the offence alleged; in such cases no question of appreciating evidence arises; it is a matter of merely of looking at the complaint or the First Information Report to decide whether the offence alleged is disclosed or not. In such cases it would be legitimate for the High Court to hold that it would be manifestly unjust to allow the process of the criminal court to be issued against the accused person. A third category of the cases in which the inherent jurisdiction of High Court can be successfully invoked may also arise. In cases falling under this category the allegations made against the accused person do constitute an offence alleged but there is either no legal evidence adduced in support of the case or evidence adduced clearly or manifestly fails to prove the charge. In dealing with this class of cases it is important to bear in mind the distinction be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere committed in the course of commercial and also money transaction. 10. In Medchl Chemical Pharma (P) Ltd. v. Biological E. Ltd. Ors. this Court again reiterated the position and held: Exercise of jurisdiction under the inherent power as envisaged in Section 482 of the Code to have the complaint or the charge-sheet quashed is an exception rather than a rule and the case for quashing at the initial stage must have to be treated as rarest of rare so as not to scuttle the prosecution. With the lodgment of first information report the ball is set to roll and thenceforth the law takes its own course and the investigation ensues in accordance with the provisions of law. The jurisdiction as such is rather limited and restricted and its undue expansion is neither practicable nor warranted. In the event, however, the court on a perusal of the complaint comes to a conclusion that the allegations leveled in the complaint or charge-sheet on the face of it does not constitute or disclose any offence as alleged, there ought not to be any hesitation to rise up to the expectation of the people and deal with the situation as is required under the law.. Needless to record however an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Krishnan v. Vijay Singh Anr. (Criminal Appeal No. 1028 of 2001 decided on 11.10.2001) this court held that while exercising powers under Section 482 of the Code, the High Court should be slow in interfering with the proceedings at the initial stage and that merely because the nature of the dispute is primarily of a civil nature, the criminal prosecution cannot be quashed because in cases of forgery and fraud there is always some element of civil nature. In a case where the accused alleged that the transaction between the parties are of a civil nature and the criminal court cannot proceed with the complaint because the factum of document being forged was pending in the civil court, the court observed: Accepting such a general proposition would be against the provision of law inasmuch as in all cases of cheating and fraud, in the whole transaction, there is generally some element of civil nature. However, in this case, the allegations were regarding the forging of the document and acquiring gains on the basis of such forged documents. The proceedings could not be quashed only because the respondents had filed a civil suit wit respect to the aforesaid documents. In a criminal c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the criminal courts. The converse is not true . In that case the appellants had filed a writ petition in the High Court for the issuance of appropriate directions requiring the Union of India to release and deliver to them some consignments of maize transported from the State of haryana to Howrah. Alleging that the movement of maize had been controlled by the provisions of Essential Commodities Act read with Northern Inter-Zonal Maize (Movement Control) order, 1967 promulgated by the State Government, the restriction on export imposed by the Order were removed by the State of Haryana in October. 1967 which was duly published and advertised. The contention of the Union was that the State of haryana had not lifted the ban on export and further that it had no power to lift the ban. The High Court dismissed the writ petition on the sole ground that in view of the pendency of the criminal proceedings before some court in the State of West Bengal it was inappropriate for the High Court to pronounce on the question arising for decision in the writ petition. In that context the court held: In our opinion the High Court seriously erred in coming to this conclusion. If the appellants are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat the innocent should be absolved as early as is consistent with a fair and impartial trial. Another reason is that it is undesirable to let things slide till memories have grown too him to trust. This however, is not a hard and fast rule. Special considerations obtaining in any particular case might make some other course more expedient and just. For example, the civil case or the other criminal proceeding may be so near its end as to make it expedient to stay it in order to given precedence to a prosecution ordered under S. 476. But in this case we are of the view that the civil suits should be stayed till the criminal proceedings have furnished. 16. In the present case we have noticed that before issuance of the process, the Trial Magistrate had recorded the statement of the witnesses for the complaint, perused the record including the opinion of the expert and his deposition and prima facie found that the respondents were guilty for the offences for which the process was issued against them. The High Court rightly did not refer to any of those circumstances but quashed the proceedings only on the ground: Consideration is and should be whether any criminal proceedin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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