Maintainability of Section 340 application must be decided first when the underlying appeal has already ended.

Where the underlying appeal before the DRAT had already been disposed of, a subsequent Section 340 CrPC application could not proceed without first resolving the tribunal's jurisdiction and maintainability. The Court held that the objection to maintainability was threshold and had to be examined before any further steps were taken. It did not quash the proceedings outright, but required the DRAT to decide the preliminary issue first, with all parties' rights and contentions reserved.

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Issues: Whether the application filed under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 before the DRAT could proceed after the appeal had already been disposed of, and whether the challenge to its maintainability had to be decided as a preliminary question.

Analysis: The dispute arose after disposal of the appeal under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, when the respondents sought to pursue an application under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The earlier review proceedings had already been confined to a limited issue, and the Court found that the appeal itself no longer survived before the DRAT. In that setting, the Court held that the jurisdictional objection to the Section 340 application could not be bypassed and had to be examined at the threshold by the DRAT before any further steps were taken.

Conclusion: The challenge was not accepted to the extent of quashing the proceedings outright, but the DRAT was directed to first decide the maintainability objection as a preliminary issue before proceeding further.

Final Conclusion: The petition was disposed of with a threshold determination of jurisdiction and maintainability left to the DRAT, while all parties' rights and contentions were reserved.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the underlying appeal has already been disposed of, the maintainability and jurisdictional competence of a subsequent application must be determined at the threshold before the tribunal can proceed further.

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