SEKAR REPORTER

Court News from Madras High Court

Suo. Motu Crl.R.C.Nos.1480,1481, 1524 & 1558 of 2023

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N. ANAND VENKATESH, J

  1. These matters have been listed today under the caption “To fix a date for final hearing.”
  2. In all these cases, this Court has exercised powers under Section 397 Cr.P.C and initiated a suo moto revision against the judgment and orders of the Special Court for Trial of MP/MLA Cases. This Court had noticed a pattern of the prosecution conducting a further investigation under Section 173(8) Cr.P.C and filing “final closure reports” before the Special Court absolving the accused from any wrongdoing. These “final closure reports” were completely at variance with the final report filed under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C based on which the Special Court had taken cognizance of the offences against the accused. These “final closure reports” were filed during the pendency of discharge petitions filed by the accused. Acting on these “final closure reports” the Special Court discharged the accused from the cases.
  3. This Court has prima facie found that the acceptance of these “final closure reports” by the Special Court suffered from serious legal infirmities and procedural lapses which do not have the sanction of law. In this backdrop, this Court has exercised its suo motu powers under Section 397 Cr.P.C to examine if the orders of discharge suffered from any manifest illegality or procedural impropriety. It does not bear repetition that the powers of the High Court under Section 397 Cr. P.C extend to examining the record of any inferior

court to satisfy itself of the “correctness, legality or propriety of any finding, sentence or order, recorded or passed, and as to the regularity of any proceedings of such inferior Court”.

4.The Public Prosecutor has taken notice of the State (R1) in all these cases. Upon issuance of notice, the following counsel have entered appearance for the respective accused

Crl. RC.No. 1480 of 2023Mr. S. Agilesh Kumar, Mr. A.S Aswin Prasanna and Mr. G. Mariappan
Crl.RC.No. 1481 of 2023Mr. R. Ashwin, AmuthaBarathi and N Aishwarya for R2 & G. Mariappan, Deepanuday and R. Ashwin for R3
Crl. RC.No. 1524 of 2023P. Rajalakshmi for R2 R3 (dead) S. Elambharathi for R4 M.R Sivakumar for R5 & R6 R7 (dead) D. Kalaivani for R8
Crl.RC.No. 1558 of 2023E. Balamurugan for R2

Service of notice is, thus, complete.

  • Pursuant to the directions of this Court, the Registry has furnished a copy of all

material papers in these cases to the respective learned counsel.

  • The scope of this revision is confined to the record(s) of the respective case, a copy of which has already been circulated by the Registry to the learned counsel on record for the accused.
  • As observed, supra, this Court is not testing the correctness of the order of discharge on merits. The scope of these revisions are confined to (a) the legality of filing “final closure reports” under Section 173(8) Cr.P.C (b) the legality of the Special Court accepting a “final closure report” and acting upon the same as though these “final closure reports” superseded the final report filed under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C and (c) whether the Special Court had consequently committed a jurisdictional error in exercising its powers under Section 239 Cr.PC to discharge the accused. In addition, (d) if any of the respondent(s)/accused desire to assail the jurisdiction of this Court under Sections 397/401 Cr.PC to initiate suo motu revisions they will be at liberty to do so at the stage of final arguments.
  • It will be open to the learned counsel for the respondents/accused to file their objections by way of a counter affidavit or written submissions together with case law, if any, by 30.01.2024.

9.This Court is conscious of the fact that the hearing of these cases involving politicians ought to be given priority. A balance has, however, got to be struck to minimize the inconvenience of other litigants and to ensure that the hearing of other mattersis not indefinitely delayed. Having regard to these aspects, this Court will now take up these revisions for final hearing at 3 pm every day commencing from 5th February 2024 (Monday) and will be heard at the same time through the week till 9th February 2024 (Friday). This Court expects all the learned Senior Counsel/counsel to extend their fullest cooperation to complete the hearing within the aforesaid schedule.

  1. The learned Senior Counsel/Counsel are requested to coordinate amongst themselves to avoid prolixity and overlapping of submissions.
  2. List these cases on 5th February, 2024 at 3.00 pm for final hearing.

08.01.2024

kp

Internet: yes

N. ANAND VENKATESH, J

kp Suo. Motu Crl.R.C.Nos.1480,1481, 1524 & 1558 of 2023

08.01.2024

Suo. Motu Crl.R.C.Nos.1480,1481, 1524 & 1558 of 2023

N. ANAND VENKATESH, J

  1. These matters have been listed today under the caption “To fix a date for final hearing.”
  2. In all these cases, this Court has exercised powers under Section 397 Cr.P.C and initiated a suo moto revision against the judgment and orders of the Special Court for Trial of MP/MLA Cases. This Court had noticed a pattern of the prosecution conducting a further investigation under Section 173(8) Cr.P.C and filing “final closure reports” before the Special Court absolving the accused from any wrongdoing. These “final closure reports” were completely at variance with the final report filed under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C based on which the Special Court had taken cognizance of the offences against the accused. These “final closure reports” were filed during the pendency of discharge petitions filed by the accused. Acting on these “final closure reports” the Special Court discharged the accused from the cases.
  3. This Court has prima facie found that the acceptance of these “final closure reports” by the Special Court suffered from serious legal infirmities and procedural lapses which do not have the sanction of law. In this backdrop, this Court has exercised its suo motu powers under Section 397 Cr.P.C to examine if the orders of discharge suffered from any manifest illegality or procedural impropriety. It does not bear repetition that the powers of the High Court under Section 397 Cr. P.C extend to examining the record of any inferior

court to satisfy itself of the “correctness, legality or propriety of any finding, sentence or order, recorded or passed, and as to the regularity of any proceedings of such inferior Court”.

4.The Public Prosecutor has taken notice of the State (R1) in all these cases. Upon issuance of notice, the following counsel have entered appearance for the respective accused

Crl. RC.No. 1480 of 2023Mr. S. Agilesh Kumar, Mr. A.S Aswin Prasanna and Mr. G. Mariappan
Crl.RC.No. 1481 of 2023Mr. R. Ashwin, AmuthaBarathi and N Aishwarya for R2 & G. Mariappan, Deepanuday and R. Ashwin for R3
Crl. RC.No. 1524 of 2023P. Rajalakshmi for R2 R3 (dead) S. Elambharathi for R4 M.R Sivakumar for R5 & R6 R7 (dead) D. Kalaivani for R8
Crl.RC.No. 1558 of 2023E. Balamurugan for R2

Service of notice is, thus, complete.

  • Pursuant to the directions of this Court, the Registry has furnished a copy of all

material papers in these cases to the respective learned counsel.

  • The scope of this revision is confined to the record(s) of the respective case, a copy of which has already been circulated by the Registry to the learned counsel on record for the accused.
  • As observed, supra, this Court is not testing the correctness of the order of discharge on merits. The scope of these revisions are confined to (a) the legality of filing “final closure reports” under Section 173(8) Cr.P.C (b) the legality of the Special Court accepting a “final closure report” and acting upon the same as though these “final closure reports” superseded the final report filed under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C and (c) whether the Special Court had consequently committed a jurisdictional error in exercising its powers under Section 239 Cr.PC to discharge the accused. In addition, (d) if any of the respondent(s)/accused desire to assail the jurisdiction of this Court under Sections 397/401 Cr.PC to initiate suo motu revisions they will be at liberty to do so at the stage of final arguments.
  • It will be open to the learned counsel for the respondents/accused to file their objections by way of a counter affidavit or written submissions together with case law, if any, by 30.01.2024.

9.This Court is conscious of the fact that the hearing of these cases involving politicians ought to be given priority. A balance has, however, got to be struck to minimize the inconvenience of other litigants and to ensure that the hearing of other mattersis not indefinitely delayed. Having regard to these aspects, this Court will now take up these revisions for final hearing at 3 pm every day commencing from 5th February 2024 (Monday) and will be heard at the same time through the week till 9th February 2024 (Friday). This Court expects all the learned Senior Counsel/counsel to extend their fullest cooperation to complete the hearing within the aforesaid schedule.

  1. The learned Senior Counsel/Counsel are requested to coordinate amongst themselves to avoid prolixity and overlapping of submissions.
  2. List these cases on 5th February, 2024 at 3.00 pm for final hearing.

08.01.2024

kp

Internet: yes

N. ANAND VENKATESH, J

kp Suo. Motu Crl.R.C.Nos.1480,1481, 1524 & 1558 of 2023

08.01.2024

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