TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2013 (5) TMI 964
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....s and circumstances giving rise to this appeal are as under: A. An FIR dated 10.8.1998 was registered Under Section 120B read with Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Indian Penal Code') and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act 1988') against the Appellant and other accused persons. After the conclusion of the investigation, a chargesheet was filed on 19.7.2001 by the investigating agency, i.e., CBI against Smt. Rita Singh (A-1), Mrs. Natasha Singh (A-2), Appellant, and Mr. Y.V. Luthra (A-3), a Public Servant. B. In view thereof, charges were framed by the learned Trial Court on 5.5.2003 against all the three accused. C. In support of its case, the prosecution examined 52 witnesses in the course of over 50 hearings and subsequent thereto, the statement of the Appellant-accused was recorded on 28-29.1.2013 and 5.2.2013. The Appellant, in her defence examined only one witness, namely, Sudhir Kumar (DW-2) and after proving certain documents closed her defence on 18.2.2013. The other accused, namely, Mr. Y.V. Luthra concluded his ....
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....any stage" of "any enquiry", or "trial", or "any other proceedings" under the Code of Criminal Procedure, or to summon any person as a witness, or to recall and re-examine any person who has already been examined if his evidence appears to it, to be essential to the arrival of a just decision of the case. Undoubtedly, the Code of Criminal Procedure has conferred a very wide discretionary power upon the court in this respect, but such a discretion is to be exercised judiciously and not arbitrarily. The power of the court in this context is very wide, and in exercise of the same, it may summon any person as a witness at any stage of the trial, or other proceedings. The court is competent to exercise such power even suo motu if no such application has been filed by either of the parties. However, the court must satisfy itself, that it was in fact essential to examine such a witness, or to recall him for further examination in order to arrive at a just decision of the case. 8. In Mir Mohd. Omar and Ors. v. State of West Bengal AIR 1989 SC 1785, this Court examined an issue wherein, after the statement of the accused Under Section 313 Code of Criminal Procedure had been recorded, the p....
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....ny such person even if the evidence on both sides is closed and the jurisdiction of the Court must obviously be dictated by exigency of the situation, and fair play and good sense appear to be the only safe guides and that only the requirements of justice command the examination of any person which would depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. (Emphasis added) 11. In Rajendra Prasad v. Narcotic Cell through its Officer-in-Charge, Delhi AIR 1999 SC 2292, this Court considered a similar issue and held as under: Lacuna in the prosecution must be understood as the inherent weakness or a latent wedge in the matrix of the prosecution case. The advantage of it should normally go to the accused in the trial of the case, but an over sight in the management of the prosecution cannot be treated as irreparable lacuna. No party in a trial can be foreclosed from correcting, errors. If proper evidence was not adduced or a relevant material was not brought on record due to any inadvertence, the Court should be magnanimous in permitting such mistakes to be rectified. After all, function of the criminal Court is administration of criminal justice and not to count errors committed by t....
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....ction (2) of Section 243 of the Code is bona fide or not or whether thereby he intends to bring on record a relevant material. But ordinarily an accused should be allowed to approach the court for obtaining its assistance with regard to summoning of witnesses, etc. If permitted to do so, steps therefor, however, must be taken within a limited time. There cannot be any doubt whatsoever that the accused should not be allowed to unnecessarily protract the trial or summon witnesses whose evidence would not be at all relevant. 14. The scope and object of the provision is to enable the Court to determine the truth and to render a just decision after discovering all relevant facts and obtaining proper proof of such facts, to arrive at a just decision of the case. Power must be exercised judiciously and not capriciously or arbitrarily, as any improper or capricious exercise of such power may lead to undesirable results. An application Under Section 311 Code of Criminal Procedure must not be allowed only to fill up a lacuna in the case of the prosecution, or of the defence, or to the disadvantage of the accused, or to cause serious prejudice to the defence of the accused, or to give an unf....
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.... Vijay Kumar v. State of U.P. and Anr. (2011) 8 SCC 136; and Sudevanand v. State through C.B.I. (2012) 3 SCC 387) 16. The instant case is required to be examined in light of the aforesaid settled legal propositions. The relevant part of the chargesheet dated 19.7.2001 states, that the insurance claim filed by the Appellant was inflated and that therefore, the collusion of a Public Servant in this respect attracted the provisions of Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 13 of the Act 1988. The chargesheet further revealed that: Investigation has revealed that in order to obtain insurance claim, accused Rita Singh (A-1) in her capacity as Director, Mideast India Ltd. accused Natasha Singh (A-2) in her capacity as Director, approached IFCI and in view of the aforesaid necessity for obtaining NOC from Financial Institutions/Banks, Sh. S.S. Batra, Company Secretary, MIL vide letter dated 1.3.96 requested IFCI, New Delhi for issuing a NOC for releasing a sum of Rs. 3.75 crores as interim on account payment. Sh. B.B. Huria the then Chief General Manager, IFCI recorded a note on this letter for issuing NOC subject to payment of over dues aggregating to Rs. 58 lacs. Despite the fact that there ....
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....such evidence in keeping with the provisions of Section 311 Code of Criminal Procedure By doing so, the Trial Court reached the conclusion that the production of such evidence by the defence was not essential to facilitate a just decision of the case. Such an assumption is wholly misconceived, and is not tenable in law as the accused has every right to adduce evidence in rebuttal of the evidence brought on record by the prosecution. The court must examine whether such additional evidence is necessary to facilitate a just and proper decision of the case. The examination of the hand-writing expert may therefore be necessary to rebut the evidence of Rabi Lal Thapa (PW. 40), and a request made for his examination ought not to have been rejected on the sole ground that the opinion of the hand-writing expert would not be conclusive. In such a situation, the only issue that ought to have been considered by the courts below, is whether the evidence proposed to be adduced was relevant or not. Identical is the position regarding the panchnama witness, and the court is justified in weighing evidence, only and only once the same has been laid before it and brought on record. Mr. B.B. Sharma, t....