TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (2) TMI 1130
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....er. 3 The Petitioner would assert his right to get its applications decided within a time bound period in view of amended provisions of Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act whereby the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or District Magistrate is required to pass suitable orders within 30 days from the date of application, which period could be extended not exceeding in aggregate 60 days. 4 This Court vide order dated 23.1.2017 issued directions to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to make endeavour to dispose of the pending application as expeditiously as possible and preferably within 30 days from the date of receipt of writ along with this order. The learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate vide communication dated 14.8.2017 brought to our notice: "7) Even though, the SARFAESI Act, 2002 provides for expeditious disposal of the applications filed under Section 14 of the said Act, there are as many as 924 cases pending under the said Act as on 09.08.2017 on the file of the Court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Esplanade, Mumbai. Out of 924 cases, 509 cases are filed in the year 2017. However, there are 27 cases of the year 2014, 96 cases of the year 2015 and 291 cases of the year 2016,....
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....fication in exercise of its powers under Section 17(2) of the Cr.P.C. 10 The learned counsel for the Petitioner would also submit that powers exercised by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or District Magistrate under Section 14 of the said Act are purely executory in nature and not adjudicatory and thus there is no impediment in law, if the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or the District Magistrate delegate the powers to other officers. In other words, he would submit that while disposing of the applications under Section 14 of the said Act, no element of quasi-judicial function or application of mind would require and, therefore, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/District Magistrate is not persona designata and as such, he can delegate his powers to other officers. The learned counsel for the Petitioner would also submit that inclusion of words 'after satisfying' in second proviso to Section 14(1)(a) has not changed the character of the application to be made by secured creditor. He would, therefore, submit that Magistrate has to adjudicate and decide the correctness of the information given in the application and nothing more. He would, therefore, submit that Section 14 d....
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....ll have all or any of the powers of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under this Code or under any other law for the time being in force (emphasis supplied) Thus, in our view it is this sub-section, i.e., 17(2) leads to creation of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and their jurisdiction in terms of the High Court Notifications. 15 We have perused Section 19 of the Cr.P.C. Subsection (1) of Section 19 lays down that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and every Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate shall be subordinate to the Sessions Judge; and every other Metropolitan Magistrate shall, subject to the general control of the Sessions Judge, be subordinate to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. Sub-section (2) empowers High Court to define the extent of subordination, if any, of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrates to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. 16 That so far as the powers of above Courts are concerned, we may refer to Section 29 of the Cr.P.C. Under Section 29(1) the Chief Judicial Magistrate is empowered to pass any sentence authorised by law except a sentence of death or of imprisonment for life or of imprisonment for a term exceeding seven years. Sub-secti....
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....s been made. It is therefore clear that barring the two exceptions, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate has been vested with all the powers of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under the Code." 18 In the aforesaid Court Reference following points were referred for the decision of the High Court; 1 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Bombay, being invested with all the judicial powers of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, whether Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate can be considered on par with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate for the purpose of Section 306 of the Cr.P.C. ? 2 Whether in sub-clause (i) of Clause (a) of Sub-section (5) of Section 306 if the Magistrate taking cognizance is the Chief Judicial Magistrate, the expression Chief Judicial Magistrate (Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai) includes Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. 19 That while answering the said reference, the Division Bench has held that so far as the exercise of judicial powers are concerned, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate stand on the same footing and one cannot be said to be either inferior or subordinate to the other.....
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....ed under Section 14 of the said Act would include and includes Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. We, therefore, hold expression 'Chief Metropolitan Magistrate' under Section 14 also includes 'Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate'. 23 Though the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate is subordinate to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on administrative count and for certain purposes, it does not affect status or judicial power of additional Court vis-a-vis the principle. It may be stated that the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate handles the similar kind of litigation which is handled by the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and, therefore, we hold that the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate so far as the judicial functions are concerned has all powers of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. 24 Mr. Saraf the learned counsel for the Petitioner has brought to our notice Notification No.A(Cri.) 2122/75 dated 27.8.1975 issued by the High Court of Judicature Appellate Side, Mumbai issued in exercise of the powers under Section 17(2) of the Cr.P.C. whereby authorised Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to....