TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (5) TMI 1403
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....eferred to as the "High Court") at Bengaluru, whereby the High Court was pleased to reject Criminal Petition No. 3788 of 2019 preferred by the appellant. FACTUAL PRISM: 4. The Appellant is the Managing Director of GM Infinite Dwelling (India) Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as "GMID"). The company is said to be engaged in developing residential properties. The said company and the owners (heirs of one Mr A. Hafeez Khan) of land bearing Survey Number 83 in Jodi Mallasandra Village, District Bengaluru entered into a Joint Development Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "JDA") on 17.08.2009. In the year 2017, the apartment project, as contemplated under the JDA, was completed and sale deeds were executed in favour of the allottees. 5. The original owners of the land claimed title on the basis of possessing the sale deed with regard to the said land; order of the Special Deputy Commissioner, Inams Abolition, Bangalore in Case No. 86/1959-60 dated 09.07.1961; Revenue records recording the property mutated in the names of the heirs of Mr. A. Hafeez Khan and given Survey Numbers 83/1 and 83/2 [(old Survey Number 8) new Survey Number 83]. Pursuant to the JDA, the la....
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....n O.S. No. 8163/2016, under Sections 120B, 406, 419, 468, 471, 420, 448, 427 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the "IPC"). The same metamorphosed into First Information Report in Crime No. 317/2017 at Bagalgunte Police Station, Bangalore City (hereinafter referred to as the "FIR") under Section 3(1)(15) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the "SC/ST Act") and Sections 427, 420, 419, 406, 471, 468, 448 and 120B of the IPC. The Managing Director of GMID, namely Gulam Mustafa, the appellant before us is arrayed as Accused No. 18 in the FIR. 9. Insofar as the development on the land is concerned, learned counsel for the appellant has stated that in 2017, the construction of the apartments was completed, sale deeds executed in favour of the respective allottees, and these allottees are residing in their apartments thereafter. 10. The appellant moved a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the "Code") on 28.05.2019 before the High Court for quashing the FIR. The said petition was numbered Criminal Petition N....
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....020) 16 SCC 714; Commissioner of Police v Devender Anand, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 966; Binod Kumar v State of Bihar, (2014) 10 SCC 663; Indian Oil Corporation v NEPC India Ltd., (2006) 6 SCC 736 and G Sagar Suri v State of Uttar Pradesh, (2000) 2 SCC 636. 16. It was submitted that till date chargesheet has not been filed. It was further submitted that GMID had developed residential apartment complexes of more than 400 units on the self-same land, whereon the complainant's family unsuccessfully attempted to claim title on multiple occasions, and the FIR is nothing but a vexatious proceeding employed as a tool by the complainant to coerce the appellant to agree to unjustified attempts. It was canvassed that in 2010, the relatives of the complainant had instituted a civil suit seeking declaration of the title of the suit property, which was dismissed in 2016. Subsequently, the sons of the complainant instituted a fresh suit in 2016 and also sought an order to, inter alia, restrain the appellant from entering upon the land in question. The said suit, it is stated, is pending without any interim order in operation. 17. Learned counsel also drew the attention of the Court to the fact th....
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.... Satvinder Kaur v State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi), (1999) 8 SCC 728 @ Para 16 iv. P Chidambaram v Directorate of Enforcement, (2019) 9 SCC 24 @ Paras 61, 64-67 v. Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited v State of Uttar Pradesh, (2021) 5 SCC 795 @ Para 41 vi. Union of India v Prakash P Hinduja, (2003) 6 SCC 195 @ Para 20 22. Further, advancing that the FIR was not required to be an encyclopaedia, which must disclose all facts and details of the offence(s) alleged or complained of, learned counsel relied upon Superintendent of Police, CBI v Tapan Kumar Singh, (2003) 6 SCC 175 (at Para 20) and State of Uttar Pradesh v Naresh, (2011) 4 SCC 324 (at Para 32). SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENT NO.1/THE STATE: 23. Learned counsel for the State submitted that the matter involves disputed questions of fact which this Court would not go into. It was the submission that the case be left to be investigated into by the police. Further, it was submitted that Dineshbhai Chandubhai Patel (supra) has held that it is the duty of the Investigating Officer to probe the crime, and that the High Court is not to act as an Investigating Officer. ANALYSIS, REASONI....
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....Where the allegations made in the first information report or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused. (2) Where the allegations in the first information report and other materials, if any, accompanying the FIR do not disclose a cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by police officers under Section 156(1) of the Code except under an order of a Magistrate within the purview of Section 155(2) of the Code. (3) Where the uncontroverted allegations made in the FIR or complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same do not disclose the commission of any offence and make out a case against the accused. (4) Where, the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a cognizable offence but constitute only a non-cognizable offence, no investigation is permitted by a police officer without an order of a Magistrate as contemplated under Section 155(2) of the Code. (5) Where the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are so absurd and inherently improbable on the basis of which no prudent person can ever reach a ju....
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....ion as stated above to really serve the purpose and object for which they are conferred." (emphasis supplied) 28. In State of Karnataka v M Devendrappa, (2002) 3 SCC 89, it was decided: "6. Exercise of power under Section 482 of the Code in a case of this nature is the exception and not the rule. The section does not confer any new powers on the High Court. It only saves the inherent power which the Court possessed before the enactment of the Code. It envisages three circumstances under which the inherent jurisdiction may be exercised, namely, (i) to give effect to an order under the Code, (ii) to prevent abuse of the process of court, and (iii) to otherwise secure the ends of justice. It is neither possible nor desirable to lay down any inflexible rule which would govern the exercise of inherent jurisdiction. No legislative enactment dealing with procedure can provide for all cases that may possibly arise. Courts, therefore, have inherent powers apart from express provisions of law which are necessary for proper discharge of functions and duties imposed upon them by law. That is the doctrine which finds expression in the section which merely recognizes and pre....
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.... investigation to continue would amount to an abuse of the process of court and to prevent the same it was just and expedient for the High Court to quash the same by exercising the powers under Section 482 Code which it has erroneously refused." (emphasis supplied) 30. The law on the subject was also examined in Parbatbhai Aahir v State of Gujarat, (2017) 9 SCC 641. In Habib Abdullah Jeelani, (2017) 2 SCC 779, it was opined: "inherent power in a matter of quashment of FIR has to be exercised sparingly and with caution and when and only when such exercise is justified by the test specifically laid down in the provision itself There is no denial of the fact that the power under Section 482 CrPC is very wide but it needs no special emphasis to state that conferment of wide power requires the Court to be more cautious. It casts an onerous and more diligent duty on the Court." (emphasis supplied) 31. In Vinod Natesan v State of Kerala, (2019) 2 SCC 401, this Court took the position outlined hereunder: "11. ... Even otherwise, as observed hereinabove, we are more than satisfied that there was no criminality on part of the accused and a civi....
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....pecifically enacted to deter acts of indignity, humiliation and harassment against members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The SC/ST Act is also a recognition of the depressing reality that despite undertaking several measures, the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes continue to be subjected to various atrocities at the hands of uppercastes. The Courts have to be mindful of the fact that the SC/ST Act has been enacted keeping in view the express constitutional safeguards enumerated in Articles 15, 17 and 21 of the Constitution, with a twin-fold objective of protecting the members of these vulnerable communities as well as to provide relief and rehabilitation to the victims of caste-based atrocities. 16. On the other hand, where it appears to the Court that the offence in question, although covered under the SC/ST Act, is primarily civil or private where the alleged offence has not been committed on account of the caste of the victim, or where the continuation of the legal proceedings would be an abuse of the process of law, the Court can exercise its powers to quash the proceedings. On similar lines, when considering a prayer for quashing on the basis of a compromi....