Kanshi Ram vs Nagesh Kumar and Others

Deepak Gupta, J.—This petition is directed against the order dated 6.9.2003 whereby the learned Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Bilaspur dismissed the complaint filed by the Petitioner on two grounds. Firstly, that it could not take cognizance of the complaint in so far as the three Government officials were concerned since no sanction u/s 197 Code of Criminal Procedure had been obtained despite the specific allegations that they had committed criminal offences by failing to perform their duties under law. The learned trial Court also found that there was no sufficient ground for proceeding against other accused who had been named in the original complaint.

It would be pertinent to mention that originally the complainant filed a complaint u/s 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure against D.F.O. Bilaspur, Range Officer, Jhandutta, Range Officer, Kalol, Baldev Dass and Devender, Forest Contractors. In the complaint itself it was mentioned that the name of the other forest contractors should be disclosed by the Forest Department. The learned CJM did not mark this case to the police and himself recorded some evidence. Later he directed that inquiry in the matter be conducted by the Dy. Superintendent of Police, Bilaspur. The post of Dy.S.P. was lying vacant at the relevant time and therefore, the matter was referred back to the Court by the Superintendent of Police, Bilaspur. Subsequently, vide order dated 20.09.1999 the learned CJM directed that the inquiry in the matter be conducted by the Assistant Superintendent of Police. Thereafter, he monitored the inquiry of the Assistant Superintendent of Police. He was finally not satisfied by the report submitted by the Assistant Superintendent of Police. Thereafter, the matter was transferred to the Court of the learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Bilaspur. On 12.3.2001 the JMIC, Bilaspur passed an order directing the Officer-in-charge of Police Station, Sadar, Bilaspur to register a case against the offenders under appropriate Sections and to conduct fair investigation in the matter. This order was challenged by the Forest Contractors as well as the officials and was set-aside by this Court on 28th August, 2001. This Court held that once the Magistrate had proceeded with the complaint in accordance with the provisions of Sections 200 and 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the learned Magistrate had no option but to proceed with the case in the manner provided by the law and could not direct the registration and investigation of the case u/s 156(3). Thereafter, the matter went back to the learned Magistrate. No further inquiry was held. It appears that the complainant also made no effort whatsoever nor made any request to the Magistrate that he wanted to examine any witnesses in support of its complaint.

Therefore, I am left only with the statement made by the complainant and one witness recorded at the pre-trial stage and the averments made in the complaint itself. The averments made in the complaint are vague in nature. The only allegations are that the Forest Contractors have been permitted to cut Khair trees despite objection by the Panchayat in violation of the rules and regulations framed by the Forest department. No specific instance of such violation has been given. We are dealing herewith a criminal complaint. In a criminal complaint it is the duty of the complainant to allege and specifically prove what offence has been committed. No specific offence is made out though general allegation is there that the forest laws have been violated. Therefore, the learned trial Court was justified in holding that no case was made out. In addition thereto, the learned trial Court was right in holding that as far as the Government officials were concerned since the allegation against them was that they had committed cognizable offences on account of dereliction of duty sanction u/s 197 was a pre-requisite before taking cognizance of the case. There is no error in the order of the learned trial Court. The petition is accordingly rejected.