Mandatory opportunity notice and speedy trial protections can invalidate delayed foreign-exchange prosecutions despite available criminal revision.

Mandatory compliance with the opportunity requirement under the proviso to Section 61(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act is a precondition to prosecution: the complaint must establish issuance and proper service of notice, and the Magistrate must be satisfied before taking cognizance. Failure to do so renders cognizance and summoning unsustainable. The Supreme Court also explains that the availability of criminal revision does not exclude inherent jurisdiction to prevent abuse of process. Further, unexplained prosecutorial delay throughout criminal proceedings may violate the Article 21 right to a speedy trial and require termination, assessed by responsibility for delay rather than duration alone.

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Issues: (i) Whether the availability of criminal revision under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 bars a petition under Section 482 of that Code; (ii) Whether failure to serve the mandatory opportunity notice under the proviso to Section 61(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 invalidates the complaints and summoning order; (iii) Whether the prolonged prosecution violated the appellants' right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Issue (i): Whether the availability of criminal revision under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 bars a petition under Section 482 of that Code.

Analysis: The revisional and inherent jurisdictions operate in distinct spheres. The availability of revision does not oust the High Court's inherent power to prevent abuse of process or secure the ends of justice. A petition cannot be rejected solely because revision is available; where appropriate, its nomenclature may be converted to the proper jurisdiction rather than non-suiting the applicant on a technical ground.

Conclusion: Availability of revision under Section 397 does not bar consideration of a petition under Section 482. The finding is in favour of the appellants.

Issue (ii): Whether failure to serve the mandatory opportunity notice under the proviso to Section 61(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 invalidates the complaints and summoning order.

Analysis: The opportunity to establish the existence of requisite permission is a mandatory and meaningful precondition to prosecution for offences under Sections 56 and 57 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. The prosecution must establish issuance and proper service of the notice, and the Magistrate must be satisfied of compliance before taking cognizance. The complaints neither disclosed the date of the alleged notice nor included it or proof of service; the respondents failed to produce these materials despite opportunity. Cognizance was therefore taken without satisfaction of the statutory condition and in breach of natural justice.

Conclusion: Non-compliance with the proviso to Section 61(2) rendered the cognizance and summoning order unsustainable. The finding is in favour of the appellants.

Issue (iii): Whether the prolonged prosecution violated the appellants' right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The right to speedy trial extends through all stages of criminal proceedings. Its infringement depends on a balancing assessment of the circumstances, including responsibility for delay, rather than delay alone. The complaints concerned transactions from 1991-1992 and, after their institution in 2002, remained substantially at the summons stage for over two decades. The record showed persistent and unexplained prosecutorial inaction in collecting and serving summons, pursuing process, and complying with time-bound directions, rather than delay attributable to the appellants or systemic constraints.

Conclusion: The continuation of the proceedings after the unexplained prosecutorial delay violated the appellants' right to a speedy trial. The finding is in favour of the appellants.

Final Conclusion: The statutory failure preceding cognizance, together with the violation of the constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial, required termination of the criminal proceedings against the appellants.

Ratio Decidendi: A criminal prosecution under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 cannot validly proceed without meaningful compliance with the mandatory opportunity requirement under the proviso to Section 61(2), and prolonged delay principally caused by prosecutorial inaction may warrant termination of proceedings as violating Article 21.

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