TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (11) TMI 1775
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....Kumar Sinha, Adv., Mr. Rajesh Sharma, Adv. For the Respondent : Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Prashanto Chandra Sen, Sr. Adv, Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR, Mr. Avishkar Singhvi, Adv., Ms. Priyansha Indra Sharma, Adv., Mr. Nikhil Bhalla, Adv., Mr. Varun Chopra, Adv., Mr. Muhammad Ali Khan, Adv., Mr. Udayan Verma, Adv., Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mr. Ranjit Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mr. Debasis Misra, AOR, Mr. Vishaal S. Jogdand, Adv., Mr. Suhas Kadam, Adv., Ms. Pareena Swarup, Adv., Mr. Binay Kumar Jha, Adv., Mr. Jagdev, Adv, Mr. R.C. Paul kanakraj, Adv., M Dr. Sanatan Ray Choudhari, Adv., Ms. Nanita Sharma, Adv., Mr. M.K. Vinayak, Adv., Mr. Manav, Adv., Mr. R. Sharath, Adv., Ms. Alpana Sharma, Adv., Mr. Samsuddin Khan Choudhari, Adv., Mr. Jay Prakash Somani, Adv., Mr. Rajnish Kumar, Adv., Ms. Meera Bhatia, Adv. JUDGMENT SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J. (I.A. No. 63168/2019 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T., I.A. No.71678/2019 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and I.A. No. 66253/2019 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.) 1. Allowed subject to just exception. MA 58/2019 in W.P.(Crl.) No. 225/2018 (PIL-W) (I.A. No. 182576/2018 - CORRECTION OF MISTAKES IN THE JUDGMENT) 2. The Union of Indi....
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....018 (PIL-W) (I.A. No. 29248/2019 - INITIATING CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS U/S 340 OF CRPC) R.P.(C) No. 719/2019 in W.P.(C) No. 1205/2018 (PIL-W) 9. The review petitions were listed for hearing in Court and elaborate submissions were made by learned counsel for the parties. 10. We may note that insofar as the preliminary objection raised by the Attorney General is concerned qua certain documents sought to be produced by the petitioners, that aspect was dealt with by our order dated 10.4.2019 and the said preliminary objection was overruled. 11. We cannot lose sight of the fact that unless there is an error apparent on the face of the record, these review applications are not required to be entertained. We may also note that the application under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 partly emanates from an aspect which has been dealt with in our order passed today on the application for correction of the order filed by the Union of India. 12. We have elaborately dealt with the pleas of the learned counsel for the parties in our order dated 14.12.2018 under the heads of 'Decision Making Process', 'Pricing' and 'Offsets'. However, before proceeding to deal wit....
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....igation but then once we had examined the three aspects on merits we did not consider it appropriate to issue any directions, as prayed for by the petitioners which automatically covered the direction for registration of FIR, prayed for. 17. Insofar as the aspect of pricing is concerned, the Court satisfied itself with the material made available. It is not the function of this Court to determine the prices nor for that matter can such aspects be dealt with on mere suspicion of persons who decide to approach the Court. The internal mechanism of such pricing would take care of the situation. On the perusal of documents we had found that one cannot compare apples and oranges. Thus, the pricing of the basic aircraft had to be compared which was competitively marginally lower. As to what should be loaded on the aircraft or not and what further pricing should be added has to be left to the best judgment of the competent authorities. 18. We have noted aforesaid that a plea was also raised about the "non-existent CAG report" but then at the cost of repetition we state that this formed part of the order for correction we have passed aforesaid. 19. It was the petitioners' decision ....
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....bark on an elaborate exercise of analyzing each clause, perusing what may be the different opinions, then taking a call whether a final decision should or should not have been taken in such technical matters. 23. An aspect also sought to be emphasized was that this Court had misconstrued that all the Reliance Industries were of one group since the two brothers held two different groups and the earlier arrangement was with the Company of the other brother. That may be so, but in our observation this aspect was referred to in a generic sense more so as the decision of whom to engage as the offset partner was a matter left to the suppliers and we do not think that much can be made out of it. 24. It is for the aforesaid reasons also that we find that there was no ground made out for initiating prosecution under Section 340 Cr.P.C. 25. We are, thus, of the view that the review petitions are without any merit and are accordingly dismissed, once again, re-emphasising that our original decision was based within the contours of Article 32 of the Constitution of India. CONMT.PET.(Crl.) No. 3/2019 in R.P.(Crl.) No. 46/2019 in W.P.(Crl.) No. 298/2018 (PIL-W) 26. The contempt pet....
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....to be considered on the subsequent date. An additional affidavit was filed on 8.5.2019 stating that the contemnor held this Court in the highest esteem and respect and never intended to interfere with the process of administration of justice. An unconditional apology was tendered by him by stating that the attributions were entirely unintentional, non-willful and inadvertent. 30. The matter was, once again, addressed by the learned counsel. We have given our thoughtful consideration to this issue. 31. We must note that it is unfortunate that without verification or even perusing as to what is the order passed, the contemnor deemed it appropriate to make statements as if this Court had given an imprimatur to his allegations against the Prime Minister, which was far from the truth. This was not one sentence or a one off observation but a repeated statement in different manners conveying the same. No doubt the contemnor should have been far more careful. 32. The matter was compounded by filing a 20 page affidavit with a large number of documents annexed rather than simply accepting the mistake and giving an unconditional apology. Better wisdom dawned on the counsel only durin....
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....he said complaint in a time bound manner and to submit periodic status reports to the Court. c. Issue writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ directing the Respondent No.2 to cease and desist from influencing or intimidating in any way the officials that would investigate the offences disclosed in the complaint. d. Issue writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ directing the Respondent No.1 and Respondent No.2 to not transfer the C.B.I. officials tasked with investigation of the offences mentioned in the complaint. e. Issue writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ to ensure that the relevant records are not destroyed or tampered with and are transferred to the CBI." 4. Review Petition (Criminal) No. 122 of 2019 is filed by the petitioner in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 297 of 2018. The reliefs sought in the said Writ Petition is as follows: "(a) to constitute a Special Investigating Team (SIT) under the supervision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court with following mandate: i.to investigate the reasons for cancellation of earlier deal for the purchase of 126 Rafale Fighter Jets. ii. As to how the figure of 36 Figh....
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....ition (Criminal) No. 1205 of 2018. The reliefs sought in the said Writ Petition is as follows: "a) Issue an appropriate writ or order or direction directing the respondents to file the details of the agreement entered into between the Union of India and Government of France with regard to the purchase of 36 Rafale Fighter Jets in a sealed envelope. b) Issue an appropriate writ or order or direction directing the respondents to furnish in a sealed envelope the information with regard to the present cost of Rafale Fighter Jets and also the earlier cost of the Rafale Fighter Jets during the regime of UPA Government; c) Issue an appropriate writ or order or direction directing the respondents to furnish any other information in sealed envelope before the Hon'ble Supreme Court with regard to the controversy erupted in the purchase of Rafale Fighter Jets;" THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT 6. The three Writ Petitions, as also Writ Petition in which no Review is filed, came to be dismissed. This Court has referred to the reliefs which have been sought in the four Writ Petitions. This Court referred to the parameters of judicial review. The extent of permissible judici....
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....m the standpoint of the exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution of India which has been invoked in the present group of cases." (Emphasis supplied) 9. Upon consideration of the Review Petitions and Applications, by Order dated 26.02.2019, prayer for hearing in the open court was allowed. We have heard learned counsel. We heard parties in Review Petition (Criminal) No. 46 of 2019, the learned Attorney General and learned Solicitor General. 10. As far as petitioners in Review Petition (Criminal) No. 46 of 2019 is concerned, the complaint appears to be that this Court has totally overlooked the relief sought in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 298 of 2018. 11. The first respondent is the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the second respondent is the Union of India in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 298 of 2018. The substance of the Writ Petition is that after following the due process under the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), to procure Advanced Fighter Aircrafts, and as per the authority under the DPP, the IAF Service Headquarters, after a widely consultative process with multiple Institutions, prepared Services Qualitative Requirements (SQ....
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....iefs sought in other Writ Petitions were focused upon. The only prayers of the petitioners in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 298 of 2018, as noticed, was a direction to follow the command of Lalita Kumari (supra) and to register an FIR as they have filed a complaint which is produced along with Writ Petition and as no action was taken as mandated by the Constitution Bench of this Court, they have approached this Court. The error is apparent in not even considering the impact of the Constitution Bench and requires to be redressed through the Review Petition. The petitioners also, undoubtedly, point out that there was suppression of facts by the respondents. This Court was sought to be misled. There is also a case that the petitioners have obtained documents which suggest that there were parallel negotiations being undertaken by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) which was strenuously objected to by the Indian Negotiating Team (INT). The statement in the judgment that the pricing details have been shared with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and the Report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and that only a redacted portion of the Report....
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....R. There is no concealment of facts or false presentation of facts. CONTOURS OF REVIEW JURISDICTOIN 17. Article 137 of the Constitution confers jurisdiction on the Supreme Court of India to exercise power of review. It reads as follows: "137. Review of judgments or orders by the Supreme Court Subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament or any rules made under Article 145, the Supreme Court shall have power to review any judgment pronounced or order made by it." 18. Rules have been made known as The Supreme Court Rules, 2013. Order XLVII of the said Rules, deals with review (In The Supreme Court Rules, 1966, it was contained in Order XL) and it reads as follows: "ORDER XLVII REVIEW 1. The Court may review its judgment or order, but no application for review will be entertained in a civil proceeding except on the ground mentioned in Order XLVII, rule I of the Code, and in a criminal proceeding except on the ground of an error apparent on the face of the record. The application for review shall be accompanied by a certificate of the Advocate on Record certifying that it is the first application for review and is based on the ground....
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....rt which passed the decree or made the order. (2) A party who is not appealing from a decree or order may apply for a review of judgement notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal by some other party except where the ground of such appeal is common to the applicant and the appellant, or when, being respondent, he can present to the Appellate Court the case on which he applies for the review. Explanation.- The fact that the decision on a question of law on which the judgement of the Court is based has been reversed or modified by the subsequent decision of a superior Court in any other case, shall not be a ground for the review of such judgement." 21. It will be noticed that in criminal matters, review lies on an error apparent on the face of record being established. However, it is necessary to notice what a Constitution Bench of this Court laid down in P.N. Eswara Iyer And Others v. Registrar, Supreme Court of India (1980) 4 SCC 680: "34. The rule [Ed.:Order 40, Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules] , on its face, affords a wider set of grounds for review for orders in civil proceedings, but limits the ground vis-a-vis criminal proceedings to "errors app....
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....rose out of an appeal in the High Court, wherein the High Court accepted the prayer for review. This Court held as follows: "13. ... The parameters are prescribed in Order 47 CPC and for the purposes of this lis, permit the defendant to press for a rehearing "on account of some mistake or error apparent on the face of the records or for any other sufficient reason". The former part of the rule deals with a situation attributable to the applicant, and the latter to a jural action which is manifestly incorrect or on which two conclusions are not possible. Neither of them postulate a rehearing of the dispute because a party had not highlighted all the aspects of the case or could perhaps have argued them more forcefully and/or cited binding precedents to the court and thereby enjoyed a favourable verdict. This is amply evident from the Explanation to Rule 1 of Order 47 which states that the fact that the decision on a question of law on which the judgment of the court is based has been reversed or modified by the subsequent decision of a superior court in any other case, shall not be a ground for the review of such judgment. Where the order in question is appealable the aggri....
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....AIR 1954 SC 526, the question, which fell for consideration was, whether misconception of the court about a concession by counsel, furnished a ground for review. A court may pronounce a judgement on the basis that a concession had been made by the counsel when none had been made. The court may also misapprehend the terms of the concession or the scope of a concession. When such misconception underscores a judgment, whether review would lie? Answering the said question, this Court proceeded to hold as follows: "36. ... Patanjali Sastri, J. (as he then was) sitting singly in the Madras High Court definitely took the view in Rekhanti Chinna Govinda Chettiyar v. S. Varadappa Chettiar [AIR 1940 Mad. 17] that a misconception by the court of a concession made by the advocate or of the attitude taken up by the party appears to be a ground analogous to the grounds set forth in the first part of the review section and affords a good and cogent ground for review. The learned Attorney-General contends that this affidavit and the letters accompanying it cannot be said to be part of "the record" within the meaning of Order 47 Rule 1. We see no reason to construe the word "record" in the....
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..... In Sow Chandra Kante and another v. Sheikh Habib 1975) 1 SCC 674, the judgment involved a request to review the decision of this Court refusing special leave to appeal in a matter, this Court held as follows: "... A review of a judgment is a serious step and reluctant resort to it is proper only where a glaring omission or patent mistake or like grave error has crept in earlier by judicial fallibility. A mere repetition, through different counsel, of old and overruled arguments, a second trip over ineffectually covered ground or minor mistakes of inconsequential import are obviously insufficient. ..." (Emphasis supplied) 31. Two documents, which were part of the record, were considered by the Judicial Commissioner to allow review by the High Court. This Court, in appeal, in the judgement in Aribam Tuleshwar Sharma v. Aribam Pishak Sharma and others (1979) 4 SCC 389, found as follows: "4. In the present case both the grounds on which the review was allowed were hardly grounds for review. That the two documents which were part of the record were not considered by the Court at the time of issue of a writ under Article 226 cannot be a ground for review especia....
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....view proceeding cannot be equated with the original hearing of the case, and the finality of the judgment delivered by the Court will not be reconsidered except "where a glaring omission or patent mistake or like grave error has crept in earlier by judicial fallibility": Sow Chandra Kante v. Sheikh Habib [(1975) 1 SCC 674 : 1975 SCC (Tax) 200 : (1975) 3 SCR 933]. 9. Now, besides the fact that most of the legal material so assiduously collected and placed before us by the learned Additional Solicitor General, who has now been entrusted to appear for the respondent, was never brought to our attention when the appeals were heard, we may also examine whether the judgment suffers from an error apparent on the face of the record. Such an error exists if of two or more views canvassed on the point it is possible to hold that the controversy can be said to admit of only one of them. If the view adopted by the Court in the original judgment is a possible view having regard to what the record states, it is difficult to hold that there is an error apparent on the face of the record." 33. Question in the said case arose under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941. The case was b....
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.... judicially have been carved out to correct accidental mistakes or miscarriage of justice. Even when there was no statutory provision and no rules were framed by the highest court indicating the circumstances in which it could rectify its order the courts culled out such power to avoid abuse of process or miscarriage of justice. In Raja Prithwi Chand Lal Choudhury v. Sukhraj Rai [AIR 1941 FC 1, 2 : 1940 FCR 78 : (1941) 1 MLJ Supp 45] the Court observed that even though no rules had been framed permitting the highest Court to review its order yet it was available on the limited and narrow ground developed by the Privy Council and the House of Lords. The Court approved the principle laid down by the Privy Council in Rajunder Narain Rae v. Bijai Govind Singh [(1836) 1 Moo PC 117 : 2 MIA 181 : 1 Sar 175] that an order made by the Court was final and could not be altered: "... nevertheless, if by misprision in embodying the judgments, by errors have been introduced, these Courts possess, by Common law, the same power which the Courts of record and statute have of rectifying the mistakes which have crept in .... The House of Lords exercises a similar power of rectifying mistakes....
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.... and others v. Union of India and others (2000) 6 SCC 224 ; Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation Limited. v. Mawasi and others (2012) 7 SCC 200; Kamlesh Verma v. Mayawati and others (2013) 8 SCC 320; Usha Bharti v. State of Uttar Pradesh and others (2014) 7 SCC 663 and Vikram Singh Alias Vicky Walia and another v. State of Punjab and another (2017) 8 SCC 518). 36. In Kamlesh Verma (supra), this Court in paragraph 20, laid down its conclusions, which reads as follows: "Summary of the principles 20. Thus, in view of the above, the following grounds of review are maintainable as stipulated by the statute: 20.1. When the review will be maintainable: (i) Discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within knowledge of the petitioner or could not be produced by him; (ii) Mistake or error apparent on the face of the record; (iii) Any other sufficient reason. The words "any other sufficient reason" have been interpreted in Chhajju Ram v. Neki [(1921-22) 49 IA 144 : (1922) 16 LW 37 : AIR 1922 PC 112] and approved by this Court in Moran Mar Basselios Catholic....
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....t be one which has to be established by a long drawn out process of reasoning on points where there may conceivably be two opinions or if the error requires lengthy and complicated arguments to establish it, a Writ of Certiorari would not lie (See Satyanarayan Laxminarayan Hegde and others v. Mallikarjun Bhavanappa Tirumale AIR 1960 SC 137). This principle is equally applicable to a review petition also. 40. On a conspectus of the above decisions, the following conclusions appeared to be inevitable and they also provide the premise for review: Justice above all. While a review petition has not been understood as an appeal in disguise and a mere erroneous decision may not justify a review, a decision which betrays an error which is apparent, does entitle the court to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 137 of the Constitution. The founding fathers were conscious that this Court was the final Court. There are two values, which in any system of law, may collide. On the one hand, recognizing that men are not infallible and the courts are manned by men, who are prone to err, there must be a safety valve to check the possibility of grave injustice being reached to a litig....
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....ord, for granting review under Article 137 of the Constitution read with Order XLVII Rule 1 of the CPC, the error can be an error of fact or of law. No doubt, it must be apparent on the face of record. Such an error has been described as a palpable error or glaring omission. As to what constitutes an error apparent on the face of record, is a matter to be found in context of the facts of each case. It is worthwhile to refer to the following discussion in this regard by this Court in Hari Vishnu Kamath v. Ahmad Ishaque and Others AIR 1955 SC 233, wherein, this Court held as follows: "23. It may therefore be taken as settled that a writ of certiorari could be issued to correct an error of law. But it is essential that it should be something more than a mere error; it must be one which must be manifest on the face of the record. The real difficulty with reference to this matter, however, is not so much in the statement of the principle as in its application to the facts of a particular case. When does an error cease to be mere error, and become an error apparent on the face of the record? Learned counsel on either side were unable to suggest any clear-cut rule by which the bo....
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....ecomes formidable as reasons are not given. An error apparent on the face of the record becomes difficult to establish. In a writ petition where pleadings are exchanged and reasons are given in support of the verdict, a self-evident error is detected without much argument. No doubt, a Court, in review, does not reappreciate and correct a mere erroneous decision. That reappreciation is tabooed, is not the same as holding that a Court will not appreciate the case as reflected in the pleadings and the law by which the Court is governed. 48. In this case, the short point, which this Court is called upon to consider, is the effect of the impugned judgment not dealing with a binding decision rendered by a Constitution Bench which was relied upon by the petitioners in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 298 of 2018 and rendered in Lalita Kumari (supra). It is apposite that I set out what this Court, speaking through the aforesaid Constitution Bench judgment, has laid down in paragraph 120: "Conclusion/Directions 120. In view of the aforesaid discussion, we hold: 120.1. The registration of FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code, if the information discloses c....
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.... must be mandatorily and meticulously reflected in the said diary and the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry must also be reflected, as mentioned above." (Emphasis supplied) 49. It is their contention, therefore, that the writ petition came to be clubbed along with other writ petitions. This Court proceeded to undertake judicial review of the processes which led to the decision to purchase 36 planes going back on the earlier decision which was to purchase 136 planes. 50. According to the petitioners, therefore, this Court committed a clear error in not focusing on the relief sought in their writ petition which was based on the Constitution Bench of this Court which was binding on a Bench of lesser strength (three). All this Court is being asked to do, according to the petitioners, having regard to the law binding on it, is to direct the registration of the FIR. There is also relief sought to submit reports in the same. 51. The procedure, which is to be adopted by the authorities, has been elaborated upon. There can be no escape from the mandatory procedure laid down by this Court. 52. Where a party institutes a proceeding, if the proceeding is of a civil natur....
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.... of the Law Commission of India, in its 54th Report, declares that the law is laid down by a superior court reversing an earlier decision, on a question of law, will not be a ground for the review of a judgment. 55. The Law Commission, in fact, in the said Report reasoned that adopting the view taken by the Kerala High Court in the decision in Thadikulangara Pylee's son Pathrose v. Ayyazhiveettil Lakshmi Amma's son Kuttan and others AIR 1969 KER 186 that a later judgment would amount to discovery of new and important matter, and in any case an error on the face of the record, would keep alive the possibility of review indefinitely. This impliedly would mean that when a court decides a case, it must follow judgments which are binding on it. This is not to say that a smaller Bench of this Court, if it entertains serious doubts about the correctness of an earlier judgment, may not consider referring the matter to a larger Bench. However, as long as it does not undertake any such exercise, it cannot refuse to follow the judgment and that too of a Constitution Bench. Any such refusal to follow the decision binding on it, would undoubtedly disclose an error which would be palpable....
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....d. (supra), has already been noted. The said principle, as stated, cannot be treated as one that is cast in stone to apply irrespective of facts. Illustrations come to the fore where it is better related to the factual context and not as an immutable axiom not admitting of exceptions. Take a case where a Writ of Mandamus is sought for after a demand is made. The demand is placed on record and is not even controverted. In the main proceeding, Mandamus is refused on the ground that there is no demand. It amounts to denial of relief. But the verdict is clearly afflicted with palpable error, and if the complaint is made in a review about the denial of relief on a ground which is patently untenable, certainly, a review would lie. There can be many other examples where the denial of relief is palpably wrong and self-evident. It is different, if on an appreciation of evidence or applying the law, and where two views are possible, relief is refused. In fact, broadly, denial of relief can occur in two situations. There are situations where the grant of relief itself is discretionary. There are other situations where if a certain set of facts are established, the plaintiff/appellant cannot b....
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....Kumari (supra) be conformed to. 62. If the complaint of the petitioner does make out the commission of the cognizable offence and FIR is to be registered and matter investigated, it will be no answer to suggest that this Court, has approved of the matter in judicial review proceedings under Article 32 of the Constitution and making it clear that entire exercise must be viewed from the prism of the limited judicial review the Court undertakes in such proceedings and this Court would end up paying less than lip service to the law laid down by the Constitution Bench in Lalita Kumari (supra). 63. As far as the judicial review of the award of the contract is concerned, apart from the fact that a review does not permit reappreciation of the materials, there is the aspect of the petitioner seeking judicial review approaching the court late in the day. There is also the aspect relating to the court's jurisdiction not extending to permit it to sit in judgment over the wisdom of the Government of the day, particularly in matters relating to purchase of the goods involved in this case. Therefore, in regard to review, sought in relation to the findings relating to the judicial review, th....
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....or in not heeding to the prayer in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 298 of 2018. 67. As noticed earlier, it is one thing to say that with the limited judicial review, available to the Court, it did not find merit in the case of the petitioners regarding failure to follow the DPP, presence of over-pricing, violation of Offset Guidelines to favour a party, and another thing to direct action on a complaint in terms of the law laid down by this Court. It is obvious that this Court was not satisfied with the material which was placed to justify a decision in favour of the petitioners. It is also apparent that the Court has reminded itself of the fact that it was neither appropriate nor within the experience of the Court to step into the arena. It is equally indisputable that the entire findings are to be viewed from the standpoint of the nature of the jurisdiction it exercised. There are no such restrictions and limitations on an Officer investigating a case under the law. Present a case, making out the commission of cognizable offence, starting with the lodging of the FIR after, no doubt, making a preliminary inquiry where it is necessary, the fullest of amplitude of powers under the la....
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....ctual obligation, which is also stated to be responsible for the non-conclusion of the earlier contract." 69. The very first statement in paragraph 32 would appear to point to the Court taking into account Press Release suggesting that there was possibly an arrangement between the parent Reliance Company and Dassault starting from the year 2012. It is stated as to what transpired between the two Corporates would be best left to them. In this regard, in the Review Petition, it is pointed out that this Court has grossly erred in confusing Reliance Industries of which Mr. Mukesh Ambani is the Chairman with that of Reliance Infrastructure of which Mr. Anil Ambani is the Chairman. It is further contended that Mr. Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure is the parent company of Reliance Aerostructure Limited (RAL), which is the beneficiary of the Offset Contract, and there is no possibility of any arrangement between Reliance Infrastructure Limited with Dassault Aviation in 2012. There appears to be considerable merit in the case of the petitioners that in this regard, this Court had fallen into clear error that there was possibly an arrangement between the parent Reliance Company and D....
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....en a charge is preferred before it and not until then...." 72. Following the same, this Court in M.C. Abraham and another v. State of Maharashtra and others , (2003) 2 SCC 649 held as follows: "13. This Court held in the case of J.A.C. Saldanha [(1980) 1 SCC 554 : 1980 SCC (Cri) 272] that there is a clear-cut and well-demarcated sphere of activity in the field of crime detection and crime punishment. Investigation of an offence is the field exclusively reserved by the executive through the police department, the superintendence over which vests in the State Government. It is the bounden duty of the executive to investigate, if an offence is alleged, and bring the offender to book. Once it investigates and finds an offence having been committed, it is its duty to collect evidence for the purpose of proving the offence. ..." 73. The Police Officer is endowed with wide powers. Nothing that constricted or limited this Court in the impugned judgment, applies to an Officer who has undertaken an investigation into the commission of a cognizable offence. In fact, in this case, the first respondent-CBI is the premiere investigation agency of the country. It is equipped to und....
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....o ascertain whether the information reveals any cognizable offence. Coming back to paragraph 120.2, it is laid down by this Court that if the information does not disclose a cognizable offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry, a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not. It is beyond dispute that the offences which are mentioned in the complaint filed by the petitioners in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 298 of 2018 are cognizable offences. Again, coming back to paragraph 120.3 in Lalita Kumari (supra) read with paragraphs 120.2 and 120.5, if the inquiry discloses commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered. Where, however, the preliminary inquiry ends in closing the complaint, the first informant must be informed in writing forthwith and not later than a week. That apart, reasons, in brief, must also be disclosed. 75. Paragraph 120.6 deals with the type of cases in which preliminary inquiry may be made. Corruption cases are one of the categories of cases where a preliminary inquiry may be conducted. Also, cases where there is abnormal delay or laches in initiating criminal prosecution, for exa....
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.... the form of a credible opinion given by another competent doctor to support the charge of rashness or negligence on the part of the accused doctor. The investigating officer should, before proceeding against the doctor accused of rash or negligent act or omission, obtain an independent and competent medical opinion preferably from a doctor in government service, qualified in that branch of medical practice who can normally be expected to give an impartial and unbiased opinion applying the Bolam [Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee, (1957) 1 WLR 582 : (1957) 2 All ER 118] test to the facts collected in the investigation. A doctor accused of rashness or negligence, may not be arrested in a routine manner (simply because a charge has been levelled against him). Unless his arrest is necessary for furthering the investigation or for collecting evidence or unless the investigating officer feels satisfied that the doctor proceeded against would not make himself available to face the prosecution unless arrested, the arrest may be withheld." 117. In the context of offences relating to corruption, this Court in P. Sirajuddin [P. Sirajuddin v. State of Madras, (1970) 1 SCC....
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....f offences related to corruption in the said decision, the Court has expressed a need for a preliminary inquiry before proceeding against public servants. 78. In P. Sirajuddin (supra), relied upon by the Constitution Bench in Lalita Kumari (supra), what this Court has held, and which has apparently been relied upon by the Constitution Bench though not expressly referred to is the following statement contained in paragraph 17: "17. ... Before a public servant, whatever be his status, is publicly charged with acts of dishonesty which amount to serious misdemeanour or misconduct of the type alleged in this case and a first information is lodged against him, there must be some suitable preliminary enquiry into the allegations by a responsible officer. The lodging of such a report against a person, specially one who like the appellant occupied the top position in a department, even if baseless, would do incalculable harm not only to the officer in particular but to the department he belonged to, in general. ..." (Emphasis supplied) 79. In Lalita Kumari (supra), one of the contentions which was pressed before the Court was that in certain situations, preliminary inquiry....
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....al form of procedure prescribed, by any other law for the time being in force." Thus, special provisions contained in the DSPE Act relating to the powers of CBI are protected also by Section 5 of the Code. 92. In view of the above specific provisions in the Code, the powers of CBI under the DSPE Act, cannot be equated with the powers of the regular State Police under the Code." 80. It is thereafter that under the caption "Exceptions", the Constitution Bench has proceeded to deal with offences relating to corruption as already noted and contained in paragraph 117 of Lalita Kumari (supra), which has already been extracted. Chapter 8 of the CBI Crime Manual deals with complaints and source of information. Chapter 9 deals with preliminary enquiries. Clause (8.6) of Chapter 8 provides for the categories of complaints which are to be considered fit for verification. It provides, inter alia, complaints pertaining to subject matters which fall within the purview of the CBI, either received from official channels or from well-established and recognized organizations or from individuals who are known and who can be traced and examined. Undoubtedly, petitioners are known ....
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....itted by a public servant under this Act, where the alleged offence is relatable to any recommendation made or decision taken by such public servant in discharge of his official functions or duties, without the previous approval- (a ) in the case of a person who is or was employed, at the time when the offence was alleged to have been committed, in connection with the affairs of the Union, of that Government; (b) in the case of a person who is or was employed, at the time when the offence was alleged to have been committed, in connection with the affairs of a State, of that Government; (c) in the case of any other person, of the authority competent to remove him from his office, at the time when the offence was alleged to have been committed: Provided that no such approval shall be necessary for cases involving arrest of a person on the spot on the charge of accepting or attempting to accept any undue advantage for himself or for any other person: Provided further that the concerned authority shall convey its decision under this section within a period of three months, which may, for reasons to be recorded in writing by such authority, be extended by a further period of one month.&....