iminal Appeal No 24 of 1993
From the Judgment and Order dated 681991 of the Patna High Court in Criminal Rev No 307 of 1991
Uday Sinha and MP Jha for the Appellants
BB Singh Adv
for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by AHMADI J
Special leave granted
Whether a Court of Session to which a case is committed for trial by a Magistrate can without itself recording evidence summon a person not named in the Police Report presented under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973  The Code  for short to stand trial along with those already named therein in exercise of power conferred by Section 319 of the Code This neat question of law arises in the backdrop of the following allegations
On the evening of 27th February 1990 Umakant Thakur younger brother of the informant was attacked by twenty persons including the present two appellants with sticks etc
A First Information Report was lodged at about 930 pm on the same day in which all the twenty persons were named as the assailants
The injured Umakant Thakur died in the Patna Hospital on the next day
In the course of investigation statements of the informant as well as others came to be recorded and a charge sheet dated 10th June 1990 was forwarded to the Court of the learned Magistrate on 17th June 1990 wherein eighteen persons other than the two appellants were shown as the offenders
The names of the present two appellants were not included in the said report as in the opinion of the investigating officer their involvement in the commission of the crime was not established
A final report to that effect was submitted on 4th September 1990 to the Chief Judicial Magistrate on which no orders were passed
The concerned Magistrate committed the eighteen persons named in the report to the Court of Session Dharbanga under Section 209 of the Code to stand trial
When the matter came up before the learned Sessions Judge Dharbanga an application was presented under Section 319 of the Code praying that the material on record annexed to the report under Section 173 of the Code 37 revealed the involvement of the two appellants also and hence they should be summoned and arraigned before the Court as accused persons along with the eighteen already named in the charge sheet
Thereupon a show cause notice was issued to the present two appellants in response whereto they contended that though they were not present at the place of occurrence they were falsely named in the First Information Report and the investigating officer had rightly omitted their names from the charge sheet filed in Court
The learned Sessions Judge rejected
the plea put forth by the appellants and exercised the discretion vested in him under Section 319 of the Code by impleading the appellants as co accused along with the eighteen others
Indisputably this was done before any evidence was recorded ie before the commencement of the actual trial
The appellants thereupon filed a Criminal Revision Application before the High Court of Patna assailing the order passed by the learned Sessions Judge taking cognizance against them
The High Court after hearing counsel for the parties dismissed the Revision Application relying on the ratio of the Full Bench decision of that Court in SK Laytfur Rahman  Ors
vs The State 1985 PLJR 640  1985 Criminal Law Journal 12381
It is against this order passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court that the appellants have moved this Court by special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution of India
The learned counsel for the appellants contended that unless evidence was recorded during the course of trial
The Sessions Judge had no jurisdiction under Section 319 of the Code to take cognizance and implead the appellants as co accused solely on the basis of the material collected in the course of investigation and appended to the report forwarded under Section 173 of the Code in view of the clear mandate of Section 193 of the Code
The question which arises for consideration in the backdrop of the aforestated facts is whether the learned Sessions Judge was justified in law in invoking Section 319 of the Code at the stage at which the proceedings were pending before him solely on the basis of the documents including statements recorded under Section 161 of the Code during investigation without commencing trial and recording evidence therein Section 319 corresponds to Section 351 of the repealed Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 hereinafter called the old Code 
That Section must be read in juxtaposition with Section 319 of the Code
Before we do so it is necessary to state that Section 319 of the Code as it presently stands is the recast version of Section 351 of the old Code based on the recommendations 38 made by the Law Commission in its 41st Report as under It happens sometimes though not very often that a Magistrate hearing a case against certain accused finds from the evidence that some person other than the accused before him is also concerned
in that very offence or in a connected offence
It is only proper that the Magistrate should have the power to call and join him in the proceedings 
Section 351 provides for such a situation but only if that person happens to be attending the Court
He can then be detained and proceeded against
There is no express provision in section 351 for summoning such a person if he is not present in Court
Such a provision would made section 351 fairly comprehensive and we think it proper to expressly provide for that situation
para 2480 About the true position under the existing law there has been difference of opinion and we think it should be made clear
It seems to us that the main purpose of this particular provision is that the whole case against all known suspects should be proceeded with expeditiously and convenience requires that cognizance against the newly added accused should be taken in the same manner as against the other accused
We therefore propose to recast section 351 making it comprehensive and providing that there will be no difference in the mode of taking cognizance if a new person is added as an accused during the proceedings para 2481 It will be seen from the above paragraphs that the Law Commission suggested that section 351 should be recast with a view to i empowering the court to summon a person not present in court to stand trial along with the named accused and ii enabling the court to take cognizance against the newly added accused by making it explicit that there will be no difference in the mode of taking cognizance against the added accused
Pursuant to the said recommendations made by the Law Commission Section 351 of the old Code was replaced by Section 319 in the present Code
We may now read the two provisions in juxtaposition Old Code Section 351 1 Any person attending a Criminal Court 39 although not under arrest or upon a summons may be detained by such Court for the purpose of inquiry into or trial of any offence of which such Court can take cognizance and which from the evidence may appear to have been committed and may be proceeded against as though he had been arrested or summoned
2 When the detention takes place in the course of an inquiry under Chapter XVIII or after a trial has been begun the proceedings in respect of such person shall be commenced afresh and the witnesses re heard
New Code Section 319 1 Where in the course of any inquiry into or trial of an offence it appears from the evidence that any person not being the accused has committed any offence for which such person should be tried together with the accused the Court may proceed against such person for the offence which he appears to have committed
2 Where such person is not attending the Court he may be arrested or summoned as the circumstances of the case may require for the purpose aforesaid
3 Any person attending the Court although not under arrest or upon a summons may be detained by such Court for the purpose of the inquiry into or trial of the offence which he appears to have committed
4 Where the Court proceeds against any person under subsection 1 then a the proceedings in respect of such Person shall be commenced afresh and the witnesses re heard b subject to the provisions of Cla the case may proceed as if such person had been an accused person when the Court took cognizance of the offence upon which the inquiry or trial was commenced
 40 Section 351 of the old Code empowered detention of any person attending a Criminal Court although not under arrest or upon a summon for the purpose of inquiry into or trial of any offence of which such Court could take cognizance if it appeared from the evidence so recorded that he may have committed an offence along with others
Sub section 2 of section 319 came to be inserted in response to the Law Commission s recommendation in paragraph 2480 of its report to enlarge the Court s power to arrest or summon any person who appears to be involved in the commission of the crime along with others but who is not present in court
Next it is significant to note that the words of which such Court can take cognizance  have been omitted by the Legislature
Instead the newly added sub section 4b expressly states that the case against the added accused may proceed as if such person had been an accused person when the court took cognizance of the offence
This takes care of the Law Commission s recommendation found in paragraph 2481 extracted earlier
It is therefore manifest that Section 319 of the Code is an improved version of Section 351 of the old Code the changes having been introduced therein on the suggestion of the Law Commission to make it comprehensive so that even persons not attending the Court can be arrested or summoned as the circumstances of the case may require and by deleting the words of which such Court can take cognizance  and by adding clause b it is clarified that the impleadment of a new person as an accused in the pending proceedings will not make any difference insofar as taking of cognizance is concerned
In other words it is made clear that cognizance against the added person would be deemed to have been taken as originally against the other co accused
It is thus clear that the difficulty in regard to taking of cognizance which would have been experienced by the Court has been done away with
The section comes into operation at the post cognizance stage when it appears to the court from the evidence recorded at the trial that any person other than those named as offenders appears to have com mitted any offence in relation to the incident for which the co accused are on trial
But counsel for the appellants contended that section 319 being a self contained provision the power thereunder can be exercised strictly in terms of the section which permits the exercise of power only if it appears from the evidence  in the course of the inquiry or trial of an offence that any person besides the accused already put up for trial has committed any offence arising from the incident in question
Counsel submitted that the 41 power cannot be exercised before evidence  is led as the involvement of the person must appear from the evidence tendered at the trial because it is at that stage that the court must apply its mind about the complicity of the person not arraigned before it in the commission of the crime
He therefore submitted that in the present case since the trial had not commenced and the prosecution had not led any evidence the stage for the exercise of the power had not reached
In order to appreciate the contention urged before us it is necessary to notice a few provisions
Section 190 of the Code sets out the different ways in which a Magistrate can take cognizance of an offence that is to say take notice of an allegation disclosing commission of a crime with a view to setting the law in motion to bring the offender to book
Under this provision cognizance can be taken in three ways enumerated in clauses a b  c of the offence alleged to have been committed
The object is to ensure the safety of a citizen against the vagaries of the police by giving him the right to approach the Magistrate directly if the police does not take action or he has reason to believe that no such action will be taken by the police
Even though the expression take cognizance  is not defined it is well settled by a catena of decisions of this Court that when the Magistrate takes notice of the accusations and applies his mind to the allegations made in the complaint or police report or information and on being satisfied that the allegations if proved would constitute an offence decides to initiate judicial proceedings against the alleged offender he is said to have taken cognizance of the offence
It is essential to bear in mind the fact that cognizance is in regard to the offence and not the offender
Mere application of mind does not amount to taking cognizance unless the magistrate does so for proceeding under Section 200204 of the Code See Jamuna Singh  Ors
vs Bhadai Sah  at 40 41
It is therefore obvious that if on receipt of a complaint under Section 154 of the Code in regard to a cognizable offence an offence is registered and the concerned Police Officer embarks on an investigation and ultimately submits a police report under Section 173 of the Code the Magistrate may take cognizance and if the offence is exclusively triable by a Court of Sessions he must follow the procedure set out in Section 209
That section provides that when in a case instituted on a police report as defined in section 2r or otherwise the accused appears or is brought before the Magistrate and it appears to the Magistrate that the offence is triable 42 exclusively by the Court of Session he shall commit the case to the Court of Session and remand the accused to custody
Section 193 of the Old Code and as it presently stands have a bearing and may be extracted at this stage Old Code Section 193 Cognizance of offences by Courts of Session 1 Except as othewise expressly provided by this Code or by any other law for the time being in force no Court of Session shall take cognizance of any offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the accused has been committed to it by a Magistrate duly empowered in that behalf
New Code Section 193 Cognizance of offences by Court of Sessions Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Code or by any other law for the time being in force no Court of Session shall take cognizance of any offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the case has been committed to it by a Magistrate under this Code
 It may immediately be noticed that under the old provision a Court of Session could not take cognizance of an offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the accused was committed to it whereas under the recast section as it presently stands the expression the accused has been replaced by the words the case
As has been pointed out earlier
Under section 190 cognizance has to be taken for the offence and not the offender so also under section 193 the emphasis now is to the committal of the case and no more on the offender
So also section 209 speaks of committing the case to the Court of Session
On a conjoint reading of these provisions it becomes clear that while under the Old Code in view of the language of section 193 unless an accused was committed to the Court of Session the said court not take cognizance of an offence as a court of original jurisdiction now under section 193 as it presently stands once the case is committed the restriction disappears
More of it later but first the case law
Section 193 of the Old Code placed an embargo on the Court of Session from taking cognizance of any offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the accused was committed to it by a Magistrate or there 43 was express provision in the Code or any other law to the contrary
In the context of the said provision this Court in PC Gulati vs LR Kapur 1966 I SCR 560 at p568 observed as under When a case is committed to the Court of Session the Court of Session has first to determine whether the commitment of the case is proper
If it be of opinion that the commitment is bad on a point of law it has to refer the case to the High Court which is competent to quash the proceeding under section 215 of the Code
It is only when the Sessions Court considers the commitment to be good in law that it proceeds with the trial of the case
It is in this context that the Sessions Court has to I take cognizance of the offence as a Court or original jurisdiction and it is such a cognizance which is referred to in section 193 of the Code
 In Joginder Singh vs State of Punjab    the facts were that a criminal case was registered against Joginder Singh and four others on the allegation that they had committed house tresspass and had caused injuries to two persons
During the investigation the police found Joginder Singh and Ram Singh the appellants in the case to be innocent and submitted a charge sheet against the remaining three persons only
The learned Magistrate who held a preliminary inquiry committed the three accused to the Court of Session whereupon the Additional Sessions Judge Ludhiana framed charges against them
At the trial evidence of two witnesses came to be recorded during the course of which the complicity of the two appellants came to light
Thereupon at the instance of the informant the Public Prosecutor moved an application for summoning and trying the two appellants along with the three accused who were already arraigned before the court
The application was opposed principally on the ground that the Sessions Judge had no jurisdiction or power to summon the two appellants and direct them to stand their trial along with the three persons already named in the police report
This objection was negatived and the learned Additional Sessions Judge passed G an order presumably under section 319 of the Code directing the attendance of the two appellants and further directing that they stand trial together with the three accused arraigned before the court
The High Court dismissed the Revision Application whereupon the appellants approached this Court by special leave
The real question centered round the 44 scope and ambit of section 319 of the Code
This Court after considering the relevant provisions of the Old Code in juxtaposition with similar provisions in the New Code observed as under  It will thus appear clear that under Section 193 read with Section 209 of the Code when a case is committed to the Court of Session in respect of an offence the Court of Session takes cognizance of the offence and not of the accused and once the Sessions Court is properly seized of the case as a result of the committal order against some accused the power under Section 3191 can come into play and such Court can add any person not an accused before it as an accused and direct him to be tried along with the other accused for the offence which such added accused appears to have committed from the evidence recorded at the trial  This view came to be reiterated in a recent decision of this Court in Sohan Lal  Ors
vs State of Rajasthan  That was a case in which a First Information Report was lodged against the appellants
On completion of the investigation the police forwarded a charge sheet under section 173 of the Code
The Judicial Magistrate after taking cognizance ordered discharge of appellants 4 and 5 and directed that the remaining 3 appellants be charged only under section 427 IPC and not under Sections 147 323 325 and 336 in respect whereof the charge sheet was forwarded
The Additional Public Prosecutor therefore submitted an application signed by one of the victims praying that on the basis of the entire evidence a prima facie case was made out under sections 147 325 and 336 IPC and requested that the charge be amended and the accused persons be charged accordingly
After recording the plea of the accused the prosecution led evidence and examined witnesses
The learned Magistrate after hearing the Additional Public Prosecutor and counsel for the defence and after discussing the evidence took cognizance of the other offences against the appellants
The Revision Application preferred to the High Court was dismissed
This Court after considering the relevant provisions of the Code concluded as under  Section 319 empowers the court to proceed against persons not being the accused appearing to be guilty of offence
Sub sections 1 and 2 of this section provide for a situation when 45 a court hearing a case against certain accused person finds from A the evidence that some person or persons other than the accused before it is or are also connected in this very offence or any connected offence and it empowers the court to proceed against such person or persons for the offence which he or they appears or appear to have committed and issue process for the purpose
It provides that the cognizance against newly added accused is deemed to have been taken in the same manner in which cognizance was first taken of the offence against the earlier accused
It naturally deals with a matter arising from the course of the proceeding already initiated
The scope of the section is wide enough to include cases instituted on private complaint  The learned counsel for the appellants submitted that once a Court of Session takes cognizance in the limited sense explained in Gulati s case the power to summon or arrest a person not named in the police report can be exercised under Section 319 of the Code only if the condition precedent namely the commencement of the trial and recording of evidence is satisfied
This he contends is manifest from the last mentioned two cases in which the power was exercised only after the condition precedent was satisfied and the complicity of a person not shown as an offender in the police report surfaced from the evidence recorded in the course of the trial
That prima facie appears to be so but it must at the same time be remembered that in both the cases the Court was not called upon to consider whether a Court of Session to which a case is committed for trial under Section 209 of the Code can while taking cognizance summon a person to stand trial along with others even though he is not shown as an offender in the police report if the court on a perusal of the case papers prima facie finds his complicity in the commission of the crime and the omission of his name as an offender by the investigating officer not proper
On a plain reading of sub section 1 of Section 319 there can be no doubt that it must appear from the evidence tendered in the course of any inquiry or trial that any person not being the accused has committed any offence for which he could be tried together with the accused
This power it seems clear to us can be exercised only if it so appears from the evidence at the trial and not otherwise
Therefore this sub section contemplates 46 existence of some evidence appearing in the course of trial wherefrom the Court can prima facie conclude that the person not arraigned before it is also involved in the commission of the crime for which he can be tried with those already named by the police
Even a person who has earlier been discharged would fall within the sweep of the power conferred by Section 319 of the Code
Therefore stricto sensu Section 319 of the Code cannot be invoked in a case like the present one where no evidence has been led at a trial wherefrom it can be said that the appellants appear to have been involved in the commission of the crime along with those already sent up for trial by the prosecution
But then it must be conceded that Section 319 covers the postcognizance stage where in the course of an inquiry or trial the involvement or complicity of a person or persons not named by the investigating agency has surfaced which necessitates the exercise of the discretionary power conferred by the said provision
Section 319 can be invoked both by the Court having original jurisdiction as well as the Court to which the case has been committed or transferred for trial
The sweep of Section 319 is therefore limited in that it is an enabling provision which can be invoked only if evidence surfaces in the course of an inquiry or a trial disclosing the complicity of a person or persons other than the person or persons already arraigned before it
If this is the true scope and ambit of Section 319 of the Code the question is whether there is any other provision in the Code which would entitle the Court to pass a similar order in similar circumstances
The search for such a provision would be justified only on the premiss that Section 319 is not exhaustive of all post cognizance stituations
Now as pointed out earlier Section 319 deals with only one situation namely the complicity coming to light from the evidence taken and recorded in the course of an inquiry or trial
This may happen not merely in cases where despite the name of a person figuring in the course of investigation the investigating agency does not send him up for trial but even in cases where the complicity of such a person comes to light for the first time in the course of evidence recorded at the inquiry or trial
Once the purport of Section 319 is so understood it is obvious that the scope of its operation or the area of its play would also be limited to cases where after cognizance the involvement of any person or persons in the commission of the crime comes to light in the course of evidence recorded at the Inquiry or trial
Thus the Section does not apply to all situations and cannot be interpreted to be repository of all power for summoning such person or 47 persons to stand trial along with others arraigned before the Court
The question then is whether dehors Section 319 the Code can similar power be traced to any other provision in the Code or can such power be implied from the scheme of the Code We have already pointed out earlier the two alternative modes in which the Criminal Law can be set in motion by the filing of information with the police under Section 154 of the Code or upon receipt of a complaint or information by a Magistrate
The former would lead to investigation by the police and may culminate in a police report under Section 173 of the Code on the basis whereof cognizance may be taken by the Magistrate under Section 1901b of the Code
In the latter case the Magistrate may either order investigation by the police under Section 1563 of the Code or himself hold an inquiry under Section 202 before taking cognizance of the offence under Section 1901a or c as the case may be read with Section 204 of the Code
Once the Magistrate takes cognizance of the offence he may proceed to try the offender except where the case is transferred under Section 191 or commit him for trial under Section 209 of the Code if the offence is triable exclusively by a Court of Session
As pointed out earlier cognizance is taken of the offence and not the offender
This Court in Raghubans Dubey vs State of Bihar    stated that once cognizance of an offence is taken it becomes the Court s duty to find out who the offenders really are  and if the Court finds that apart from the persons sent up by the police some other person are involved it is his duty to proceed against those persons  by summoning them because the summoning of the additional accused is part of the proceeding initiated by his taking cognizance of an offence 
Even after the present Code came into force the legal position has not undergone a change on the contrary the ratio of Dubey s case was affirmed in Hariram Satpathy vs Tikaram Agarwala    Thus far there is no difficulty
We have now reached the crucial point in our journey
After cognizance is taken under section 1901 of the Code in warrant cases the Court is required to frame a charge containing particulars as to the time and place of the alleged offence and the person if any against whom or the thing if any in respect of which it was committed
But before framing the charge section 227 of the Code provides that if upon a consideration of the record of the case and the documents submitted therewith the 48 Sessions Judge considers that there is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused he shalt for reasons to be recorded discharge the accused
It is only when the Judge is of opinion that there is ground for presuming that the accused has committed an offence that he will proceed to frame a charge and record the plea of the accused vide section 228
It becomes immediately clear that for the limited purpose of deciding whether or not to frame a charge against the accused the judge would be required to examine the record of the case and the documents submitted therewith which would comprise the police report the statements of witnesses recorded under section 161 of the Code the seizure memoranda etc etc
If on application of mind for this limited purpose the Judge finds that besides the accused arraigned before the him the complicity or involvement of others in the commission of the crime prima facie surfaces from the material placed before him what course of action should he adopt The learned counsel for the State therefore argued that even if two views are possible this being a matter of procedure not likely to cause prejudice to the person or persons proposed to be summoned the court should accept the view which would advance the cause of justice namely to bring the real offender to book
If such an approach is not adopted the matter will slip into the hands of the investigation officer who may or may not send up for trial an offender even if prima facie evidence exists which may in a given situation cause avoidable difficulties to the trial court
Take for example a case where two persons A and B attach and kill X and it is found from the material placed before the Judge that the fatal blow was given by A whereas the blow inflicted by B had fallen on a non vital part of the body of x
If A is not challenge by the police the Judge may find it difficult to charge B for the murder of X with the aid of section 34 IPC
If he cannot summon A how does he frame the charge against B In such a case he may have to wait till evidence is laid at the trial to enable him to invoke section 319 of the Code
Then he would have to commence the proceedings afresh in respect of the added accused and recall the witnesses
This submitted counsel for the State would result in avoidable waste of public time
He therefore submitted that this Court should place a construction which would advance the cause of justice rather than stiffle it
We have already indicated earlier from the ratio of this Court s decisions in the cases of Raghubans Dubey and Hariram that once the court 49 takes cognizance of the offence not the offender it becomes the court s duty to find out the real offenders and if it comes to the conclusion that besides the persons put up for trial by the police some others are also involved in the commission of the crime it is the court s duty to summon them to stand trial along with those already named since summoning them would only be a part of the process of taking cognizance
We have also pointed out the difference in the language of section 193 of the two Codes under the old Code the Court of Session was precluded from taking cognizance of any offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the accused was committed to it whereas under the present Code the embargo is diluted by the replacement of the words the accused by the words the case
Thus on a plain reading of section 193 as it presently stands once the case is committed to the Court of Session by a magistrate under the Code the restriction placed on the power of the Court of Session to take cognizance of an offence as a court of original jurisdiction gets lifted
On the magistrate committing the case under section 209 to the Court of Session the bar of section 193 is lifted thereby investing the Court of Session complete and unfettered jurisdiction of the Court of original jurisdiction to take cognizance of the offence which would include the Summoning of the person or persons whose complicity in the commission of the crime can prima pacic be gathered from the material available on record
The Full Bench of the High Court of Patna rightly appreciated the shift in section 193 of the Code from that under the old Code in the case of SK Lutfur Rahman supra as under  Therefore what the law under section 193 seeks to visualise and provide for now is that the whole of the incident constituting the offence is to be taken cognizance of by the Court of Session on commitment and not that every individual offender must be so committed or that in case it is not so done then the Court of Session would be powerless to proceed against persons regarding whom it may be fully convinced at the very threshold of the trial that they are prima facie guilty of the crime as well
    Once the case has been committed the bar of section 193 is removed or to put it in other words the condition therefore 50 stands satisfied vesting the Court of Session with the fullest jurisdiction to summon and individual accused of the crime
 We are in respectful agreement with the distinction brought out between the old section 193 and the provision as it now stands
For the reasons stated above while as are in agreement with the submission of the learned counsel for the appellants that the stage for tile exercise of power under section 319 of the Code had not reached inasmuch as the trial had not commenced and evidence was not led since the Court of Session had the power under section 193 of the Code to summon the appellants as their involvement in the commission of the crime prima facie appeared from the record of the case we see no reason to interfere with the impugned order as it is well settled that once under it is found that the power exists the exercise of power under a wrong provision will not render the order illegal or invalid
We therefore dismiss this appeal
VPR Appeal dismissed


Summary:
Aggrieved by an Award of 195 the employees placed before the Company a fresh charter of demands which was mutually settled by a written agreement which provided inter alia that the existing rate of dearness allowance should prevail which was adjustable to any future substantial change in the cost of living index of the working class
As the cost of living increased disputes arose and in spite of the said Award of 1951 137 which was not terminated according to law the dispute arising out of the said written agreement was referred for adjudication by the Government to the Second Industrial Tribunal Calcutta in September 1956
In April 1957 the Government transferred the dispute from the Second Industrial Tribunal to the Fifth Industrial Tribunal
The Company inter alia contended that the Government had no power to transfer the dispute from one Tribunal to another and that the reference was bad as the 1951 Award had not been duly terminated
The Industrial Disputes Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 36 of 1956 amending the Industrial Disputes Act 14 Of 1947 came into force on August 28 1956 giving authority to the Government to transfer a reference from one Tribunal to another which was followed by a further amending Act being Industrial Disputes Amendment Act 18 of 1957 whereunder among other things a new definition of Tribunal  was given whereby the Industrial Tribunal constituted prior to March 10 1957 under section 7A of Act 14 Of 1947 was included
Held that as a result of the amendments to the  the Government had authority to transfer a case from one Tribunal to another Tribunal  as defined by section 2r of the  as amended by Act 36 of 1956 read with amending Act 18 of 1957 empowers the Government to transfer a reference from one Tribunal to another
Where in spite of a previous award the employees after raising fresh demands entered into a new agreement with the employer which started a fresh chapter regulating the relationship of the parties the previous award though not terminated in accordance with the provisions of law must be deemed to have been superseded
Held further that though article 136 of the Constitution is couched in the widest terms and confers a discretionary power which cannot exhaustively be defined on the Supreme Court to grant special leave to appeal from the order of a tribunal but it is necessary for the Supreme Court to exercise its said discretionary jurisdiction only in cases a where there is a violation of the principle of natural justice b raises an important principle of industrial law requiring elucidation and final decision by the Supreme Court or c discloses such other exceptional or special circumstances which merit the final decision by the Supreme Court
Such discretionary reserve power cannot obviously be so construed as to confer a right of appeal to any party from the decision of a Tribunal where he has none under the law
is intended to be a self contained one and it seeks to achieve social justice on the basis of collective bargaining conciliation and arbitration
Awards are given on circumstances peculiar to each dispute and the Tribunals are to a 18 138 large extent free from restrictions of technical considerations imposed on courts
A free and liberal exercise of the discretionary powers by the Supreme Court may materially affect the fundamental basis of the decision namely quick solution to such disputes to achieve industrial peace
Where an Industrial Tribunal on the consideration of the entire material placed before it and having regard to the overall picture came to a conclusion of facts the Supreme Court will not interfere with such finding of fact nor will it be justified to allow to make a new case for the first time before it
Pritam Singh vs State of Madras   Hem Raj vs State of Ajmer and Sadhu Singh vs State of PEPSU AIR 1954 SC 272 referred to