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TMI Blog2024 (9) TMI 1352X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs, employees, lawful transferees and purchasers of secured assets at the behest of disgruntled defaulting borrowers, so as to protect their fundamental rights inter alia guaranteed under Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950; ii. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari or any other appropriate writ or order thereby quashing the FIR's mentioned at Table 1 above registered by or at the instance of disgruntled defaulting borrowers in abuses of process of law by giving criminal colour to civil dispute, with consequential reliefs; iii. Impose exemplary costs on the Respondents for abusing the process of law; iv. Pass any other other(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper. ' 2. Table 1, referred to in prayer ii above, was set out in paragraph 5 of the writ petition and mentioned 3 FIRs, viz., FIR No. 646 of 2022 dated 26.10.2022 registered at PS Titagarh, West Bengal; FIR No. 427 of 2023 dated 09.04.2023 registered at PS Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh; and FIR No. 25 of 2021 dated 27.01.2021 registered at PS Economic Offences Wing, Delhi. 3. By interim order dated 28.04.2023, this Court granted stay of all proceedings pur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... able in law to the parties were kept open to be raised before the High Courts and the said High Courts were to decide the petitions strictly on their own merits and in accordance with law. 7. Though, seemingly innocuous, the order dated 04.07.2023 has led to the filing of the present miscellaneous and interlocutory applications seeking its modification and recall. 8. In the meanwhile, it appears that the writ petitioners approached the jurisdictional High Courts seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings initiated against them. Criminal Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 10893 of 2023 was filed before the Allahabad High Court to quash FIR No. 197 of 2023 and ECIR No. ECIR/HIU-1/06/2023. Interim order dated 13.07.2023 was passed therein but the same was set aside by this Court on 13.02.2024. Thereafter, judgment was reserved in this case on 22.08.2024. Criminal Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 14101 of 2023 was filed before the Allahabad High Court to quash FIR No. 427 of 2023. The High Court reserved judgment in this case also on 22.08.2024. Crl. MC. No. 4961 of 2023 was filed before the Delhi High Court assailing FIR No. 25 of 2021 dated 27.01.2021. The date for final arguments in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s a clarification application so as to have a hearing in open Court, avoiding the procedure governing review petitions, such an attempt should be deprecated. Later, in Meghmala and others vs. G. Narasimha Reddy and others (2010) 8 SCC 383, this Court observed that a disturbing trend has emerged of repeated applications, styled as miscellaneous applications, being filed in the Court after a final judgment is pronounced and condemned the practice as one having no legal foundation, which must be firmly discouraged. More recently, in Rashid Khan Pathan and Vijay Kurle and others, in re (2021) 12 SCC 64, this Court held that in a country governed by the Rule of Law, finality of judgments is absolutely imperative and great sanctity is attached to such finality. It was further observed that permitting parties to reopen concluded judgments by filing repeated interlocutory applications amounts to an abuse of the process of law which would have a far-reaching adverse impact on the administration of justice. 12. However, when the individual facts of a particular case so warrant, there can be no bar to entertaining a clarification/modification petition in a disposed of case. This would necess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ectorate, New Delhi, was impleaded as a party respondent in the writ petition on 04.07.2023, by way of the final order disposing of the case. The final order was passed without putting it on notice and affording it an opportunity of hearing. Therefore, the directions of this Court in the said order in relation to ECIR No. ECIR/HIU-1/06/2023 cannot be sustained. More so, as the final order only records that the interlocutory applications for impleadment and to bring on record additional facts were allowed and no more. Significantly, I.A. No. 81083 of 2023, seeking permission to file additional documents/facts/ annexures, was alone reflected in the Record of Proceedings of that day in relation to the writ petition. I.A. No. 122413 of 2023 was not even listed or shown. In any event, the application for amendment of the prayers was not ordered. In effect, FIR No. 197 of 2023 and ECIR No. ECIR/HIU-1/06/2023 were not even made the subject matter of challenge in the writ petition. 16. Further, though this Court relegated the writ petitioners to the jurisdictional High Courts for challenging the FIRs registered against them, certain errors crept in by oversight while doing so. As regards ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lled insofar as it pertains to ECIR No. ECIR/HIU-1/06/2023. It is left open to the High Court of Allahabad to consider the challenge thereto in Criminal Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 10893 of 2023 on merits and in accordance with law, uninfluenced by any observations made in the order dated 04.07.2023. Further, the said order dated 04.07.2023 shall stand modified by substituting the words 'till final disposal of the respective petitions...' in paragraph 8 thereof with the words 'till the filing of the respective petitions'. This would mean that the High Courts in which proceedings have been instituted against the FIRs would be at liberty to entertain applications for interim relief in relation thereto and consider such applications and also the main cases on their own merits and in accordance with law, uninfluenced by any observations made in the order dated 04.07.2023. The miscellaneous applications and the interlocutory applications are disposed of accordingly.
Registry shall upload and attach a corrigendum to the order dater 04.07.2023 passed in Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 166 of 2023, stating that it stands duly modified by and to the extent indicated in this order. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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