TMI Blog2003 (9) TMI 810X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... la. Respondent No. 3 is a daughter-in-law, through a deceased son of Nirmala. It is the case of the Appellant that he had permitted his sister Nirmala to reside in the plot agreed to be sold to her as his licensee. On 7th September, 2000 Respondents 2 to 4 filed a suit for partition. Appellant claims that in this suit, partition was also claimed of the 25,188 sq ft. Respondents 2 to 4 deny that the claim in partition suit includes this piece of land. We are not concerned with this controversy, save and except to note that admittedly the documents set out hereunder were not produced or relied upon in this suit. The Appellant claims that he learnt that Respondents 2 to 4 were trying to get this piece of land transferred to their names on the basis of some partition deed. The Appellant thus filed a suit against Respondents 2 to 4 for a permanent injunction restraining change of name in the records. Respondents 2 to 4 filed a written statement wherein they relied upon three documents all dated 21st October, 1989. The documents are (a) a general power of attorney (b) a sale cum possession receipts (c) and affidavits purported to have been sworn by the Appellant. The Appellant claims tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a cognizable offence, should either investigate the case himself or direct an investigation to be made by any police officer subordinate to him in the manner provided by Sub-section (3) of Section 154 of the Code. 32. Be it noted that in Section 154(1) of the Code, the legislature in its collective wisdom has carefully and cautiously used the expression information without qualifying the same as in Section 41(1)(a) or (g) of the Code wherein the expressions/ reasonable complaint and credible information are used. Evidently, the non-qualification of the word information in Section 154(1) unlike in Section 41(1)(a) and (g) of the Code may be for the reason that the police officer should not refuse to record an information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence and to register a case thereon on the ground that he is not satisfied with the reasonableness or credibility of the information. In other words, 'reasonableness' or 'credibility' of the said information is not a condition precedent for registration of a case. A comparison of the present Section 154 with those of the earlier Codes will indicate that the legislature had purposely thought it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n investigation or in the alternative, if he thinks fit, he himself can, at once proceed or depute any Magistrate subordinate to him to proceed to hold a preliminary inquiry into or otherwise to dispose of the case in the manner provided in the Code. (emphasis supplied) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this Court in a series of decisions relating to the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 or the inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code which we have extracted and reproduced above, we give the following categories of cases by way of illustration wherein such power could be exercised either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be possible to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently channelised and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulate and to give an exhaustive list of myrlad kinds of cases wherein such power should be exercised. (1) Where the allegations made in the first information report or the complaint, even if they are taken at t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... circumspection. It must be exercised in the rarest of rare cases. It is also settled law that the Court would not be justified in embarking upon an inquiry as to the reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the FIR. The Court also cannot inquire whether the allegations in the complaint are likely to be established or not. 6. Keeping the above-mentioned principles in mind let us now see what the High Court has done in the impugned judgment. In the impugned judgment the High Court proceeds to consider the case of the Appellant in the complaint and the case made out by the Respondents. The High Court examines the documents, compare the signatures thereon and then proceeds to arrive at the conclusion that the documents are not false or fabricated. The High Court takes into consideration certain photographs and other material produced by the Respondents and concludes that the complaint was vexatious, frivolous and false. On this basis the High Court proceeds to quash the complaint and impose cost of ₹ 10,000 on the Appellant. The High Court does not conclude, as it could not have, that the allegations made in the complaint, if taken at their face value ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ether Sections 195 and 340 of the Criminal Procedure Code affect the power of the police to investigate into a cognizable offence has already been considered by this Court in the case of State of Punjab v. Raj Singh 1998CriLJ1104 . In this case it has been that as follows: 2. We are unable to sustain the impugned order of the High Court quashing the FIR lodged against the respondents alleging commission of offences under Sections 419, 420, 467, and 468 IPC by them in course of the proceeding of a civil suit, on the ground that Section 195(1)(b)(ii) CrPC prohibited entertainment of and investigation into the same by the police. From a plain reading of Section 195 CrPC it is manifest that it comes into operation at the stage when the court intends to take cognizance of an offence under Section 190(1) CrPC; and it has nothing to do with the statutory power of the police to investigate into an FIR which discloses a cognizable offence, in accordance with Chapter XII of the Code even if the offence is alleged to have been committed to, or in relation to, any proceedings in court. In other words, the statutory power of the police to investigate under the Code is not in any way control ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd scandalous but also tainted with mala fides, vitiating the entire proceedings. As it has been repeatedly pointed out earlier the entire matter is only at a premature stage and the investigation is not yet proceeded with except some preliminary effort taken on the date of the registration of the case, that is on November 21, 1987. The evidence has to be gathered after a thorough investigation and placed before the court on the basis of which alone the court can come to a conclusion one way or the other on the plea of mala fides. If the allegations are bereft of truth and made maliciously, we are sure, the investigation will say so. At this stage, when there are only allegations and recriminations but on evidence, this court cannot anticipate the result of the investigation and render a finding on the question of mala fides on the materials at present available. Therefore, we are unable to see any force in the contention that the complaint should be thrown overboard on the mere unsubstantiated plea of mala fides. Even assuming that Dharam Pal has laid the complaint only on account of his personal animosity, that, by itself, will not be a ground to discard the complaint containing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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