TaxTMI 
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2022 (10) TMI 262
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....r and respondent nos.2 & 3 the certified copies within a maximum period of 10 days from the receipt of an authenticated copy of the said Order. However, despite receiving this Order, the learned JMFC has neither prepared the judgment nor issued any copies to the parties. Hence, this second petition by the Petitioner, who was the original complainant in the above criminal cases. 4. The Petitioner had instituted two criminal complaints against M/s. Gogi Construction and its Partners, i.e., respondents No.1 to 4 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (said Act), registered as Criminal Case Nos. 161/NI/OA/2016/A and 162/NI/OA/2016/A. 5. The Petitioner has pleaded that on 05.03.2021, learned Judicial Magistrate First Class at Quepem, A Court (JMFC) convicted the accused persons for the offence under Section 138 of the said Act; directed them to pay the cheque amount, and sentenced them for one-month imprisonment, in default of payment for six months simple imprisonment. However, on the same day, the accused applied for suspension of sentence. Accordingly, the learned JMFC promptly suspended the sentence for 30 days to enable the accused persons to institute an appea....
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....states that no certified copy was issued on 10.03.2021. The accused persons preferred Criminal Appeals No.52/2021 and 53/2021 to the Sessions Court without certified copies of the impugned Judgments and Orders. They, however, filed an undertaking/application for production of the certified copies no sooner than the same were received or uploaded on the CIS. 12. The Appeal Court called for record and proceedings on 21.02.2022. Because the same was not transmitted, the Appeal Court sent a reminder on 08.03.2022 to the learned JMFC. Reminders on 09.03.2022 and 05.04.2022 followed this. Yet another reminder was issued on 18.04.2022. Despite all these reminders, the learned JMFC neither forwarded the records nor did she issue the certified copies of the Judgments and Orders dated 05.03.2021. 13. On 13.06.2022, the Appeal Court issued another reminder to the learned JMFC. A further reminder followed this on 21.06.2022. However, despite these reminders, neither were the records transmitted nor were the certified copies of the Judgements and Orders dated 05.03.2021 made available. 14. On 05.04.2021, the Principal District Judge held a surprise inspection in the Court of JMFC at Quepem. ....
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....nts and Orders dated 05.03.2021 within a maximum period of 10 days from the date of receipt of an authenticated copy of this Order. The Registry to ensure that an authenticated copy of this Order is served upon the JMFC at Quepem at the earliest against her endorsement of receipt. The copy may be served through the Principal District and Sessions Judge, South Goa. The JMFC at Quepem should file a compliance report in this case on or before 07.09.2022. 21. This Order and the report of the Principal District Judge must be placed before the Registrar (Admin) to enable him to do the needful on the administrative side by following the law. 22. This Petition is disposed of with the above directions. Accordingly, there shall be no order for costs." 19. After the above directions were issued, it was expected that the learned JMFC would prepare the judgment for whatever it was worth and give certified copies to the parties as directed. However, despite receiving the judgment and Order dated 11.07.2022, we are sorry to say the learned JMFC has reported no compliance. Therefore, when this petition was instituted by the Petitioner - the original complainant, we made an order on 26.09.20....
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....n Court and thereafter, the same is uploaded by the Bench Clerk on the CIS in the roznama. 4. At 12.45 p.m., I personally spoke to the concerned Judicial Officer. She also informed me that the judgment continued was pronounced on 05.03.2021 and signed on the same day. 5. Annexed hereto are the Xerox copies of the judgment continued in Criminal Case No.161/NI/OA/2016/A and Criminal Case No.162/NI/OA/ 2016/A. 6. The matter may be placed before the Hon'ble Lordship for necessary information. Yours faithfully, Sd/- (IRSHAD AGHA) Principal District & Sessions Judge, South Goa Margao. Encl: As above." 21. To the above report was a document entitled as follows: "Order reserved on : 02.03.2021 Pronounced on : 05.03.2021. JUDGMENT (continued) (Delivered on this the 5th day of the month of March, of the year 2021) 15. Heard Ld. Adv. Mr. E. Dias for Accused and Ld. Adv. Mr. S. Noronha on behalf of complainant. 16. ... 17. ... 18. .............Therefore, I pass the following : O R D E R Accused No. 1 Gogi Constructions is convicted under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act and sentenced through its partners accused Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Accused No.2 Pra....
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....ivering the whole of the judgment; or by reading out the whole of the judgment; or by reading out the operative part of the judgment and explaining the substance of the judgment in a language which is understood by the accused or his pleader. Section 353(4) of Cr.P.C. provides that where the judgment is pronounced in the manner specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1), the whole judgment or a copy thereof shall be immediately made available for the perusal of the parties or their pleaders free of cost. Both these crucial provisions appear to be a casualty in the present case. 25. In Anil Rai V/s. State of Bihar (2001) 7 SCC 318, the Hon'ble Supreme Court was concerned with the state of affairs prevalent in some Courts where judgments were not pronounced within a reasonable period after the conclusion of arguments. The Supreme Court noted that the prevalence of such a practice and the horrible situation in some of the High Courts in the country had necessitated the desirability of considering the effect of such delay on the rights of the litigant public. Though reluctantly, the Court decided to consider this aspect and give appropriate directions for preserving and strengthen....
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....gards for the attainment of the Rule of Law. For the fault of a few, the glorious and glittering name of the judiciary cannot be permitted to be made ugly. It is the policy and purpose of the law to have speedy justice, for which efforts are required to come to society's expectation of ensuring speedy, untainted and unpolluted justice. Finally, the Hon'ble Supreme Court issued directions in paragraph 10 providing guidelines regarding the pronouncement of judgments. 29. In this case, as noted earlier, the learned JMFC only declared the trial result by pronouncing in open Court that the accused persons were convicted and sentenced. No judgment, as such, was prepared and furnished to the parties despite the mandate of Sections 353 and 354 of Cr.P.C. notwithstanding. 30. In Ajay Singh & Anr. V/s. State of Chhattisgarh & Anr. (2017) 3 SCC 330 the Hon'ble Supreme Court was concerned with an order passed in the order sheet that the accused persons had been acquitted as per the judgment separately typed, signed and dated. However, a complaint was made that the learned Trial Judge had acquitted the accused persons, but no judgment had been rendered. The High Court issued a mem....
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....ial. The victim whose grievance and agony have given rise to the trial also expects that justice should be done in accordance with law. Thus, a fair trial leading to a judgment is necessitous in law and that is the assurance that is thought of on both sides. The exponent on behalf of the accused cannot be permitted to command the trial as desired by his philosophy of trial on the plea of fair trial and similarly, the proponent on behalf of the victim should not always be allowed to ventilate the grievance that his cause has not been fairly dealt with in the name of fair trial. Therefore, the concept of expediency and fair trial is quite applicable to the accused as well as to the victim. The result of such trial is to end in a judgment as required to be pronounced in accordance with law. And, that is how the stability of the creditability in the institution is maintained." 34. The Hon'ble Supreme Court referred to the provisions in Section 353, 354, 362 and 363 of the Criminal Procedure Code and made the following observations: "17. It is apposite to note that though CrPC does not define the term "judgment", yet it has clearly laid down how the judgment is to be pronounced. ....
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..... It is desirable that the final Order which the High Court intends to pass should not be announced until a reasoned judgment is ready for pronouncement. Suppose, for example, that a final order without a reasoned judgment is announced by the High Court that a house shall be demolished, or that the custody of a child shall be handed over to one parent as against the other, or that a person accused of a serious charge is acquitted, or that a statute is unconstitutional or, as in the instant case, that a detenu be released from detention. If the object of passing such orders is to ensure speedy compliance with them, that object is more often defeated by the aggrieved party filing a special leave petition in this Court against the Order passed by the High Court. That places this Court in a predicament because, without the benefit of the reasoning of the High Court, it is difficult for this Court to allow the bare Order to be implemented. The result inevitably is that the operation of the Order passed by the High Court has to be stayed pending delivery of the reasoned judgment. 31. It may be thought that such orders are passed by this Court and therefore there is no reason why the Hi....
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....ns us to say that a trial Judge should remember that he has immense responsibility as he has a lawful duty to record the evidence in the prescribed manner keeping in mind the command postulated in Section 309 of the CrPC and pronounce the judgment as provided under the Code. A Judge in charge of the trial has to be extremely diligent so that no dent is created in the trial and in its eventual conclusion. Mistakes made or errors committed are to be rectified by the appellate Court in exercise of "error jurisdiction". That is a different matter. But, when a situation like the present one crops up, it causes agony, an unbearable one, to the cause of justice and hits like a lightning in a cloudless sky. It hurts the justice dispensation system and no one, and we mean no one, has any right to do so. The High Court by rectifying the grave error has acted in furtherance of the cause of justice. The accused persons might have felt delighted in acquittal and affected by the Order of rehearing, but they should bear in mind that they are not the lone receivers of justice. There are victims of the crime. Law serves both and justice looks at them equally. It does not tolerate that the grievance....
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....ra) and as stated aforesaid, the problem gets aggravated when the operative portion is made available early and the reasons follow much later. 11. It cannot be countenanced that between the date of the operative portion of the Order and the reasons disclosed, there is a hiatus period of nine months! This is much more than what has been observed to be the maximum time period for even pronouncement of reserved judgment as per Anil Rai's case (supra). 12. The appellant undoubtedly being the aggrieved party and prejudiced by the impugned Order is unable to avail of the legal remedy of approaching this Court where reasons can be scrutinized. It really amounts to defeating the rights of the appellant to challenge the impugned Order on merits and even the succeeding party is unable to obtain the fruits of success of the litigation. 13. We are constrained to pen down a more detailed order and refer to the earlier view on account of the fact that recently a number of such orders have come to our notice and we thought it is time to send a reminder to the High Courts. 14. We have little option in the aforesaid facts of the case but to set aside the impugned Order and remit the mat....