N Criminal Appeal Nos
345 346 of 1976
Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 30 9 1975 of the Karnataka High Court in Crl
Peti tions Nos 248 and 253 of 1975
D Mookherjee and BRGK Achar for the Appellant Frank Anthony KB Rohtagi and MN Kashyap for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRACHUD J
These two appeals by social leave arise out of a judgment dated september 30 1975 rendered by the High Court 115 of Karnataka in Criminal Petitions Nos 248 and 253 of 1975
By the aforesaid judgment the High Court in the exercise of its inherent powers has quashed proceedings initiated by the State of Karnataka appellant herein against the respond ents
The incident out of which these proceedings arise took place on December 6 1973 in the Central Avenue of the Indian Telephone Industries Colony Bangalore
Thyagaraja Iyer accused No 1 who was an employee of the Indian  Telephone Industries Ltd was dismissed from service on September 20 1973 on the allegation that he had assaulted a Canteen supervisor
The complainant Ajit Dutt Works Manager of the Crossbar Division attempted to serve the dismissal order on him but he refused to accept it and threatened the complainant that he the complainant was primarily responsible for the dismissal and would have to answer the consequences
It is alleged that the ITI Employees  Union took up cudgels on his behalf and re solved to support his cause
The case of the prosecution is that accused Nos 1 and 8 to 20 conspired to commit the murder of the complainant and that in pursuance of that conspiracy accused Nos 1 8 and 10 hired accused Nos 2 a notorious criminal to execute the object of the conspiracy
Accused No 2 in turn engaged the services of accused Nos 3 to 7 and eventually on the morning of December 6 1973 accused Nos 1 to 6 are alleged to have assaulted the complainant with knives thereby committing offences under sections 324 326 and 307 read with section 34
of the Penal Code
Accused No 2 was charged separately under section 307 or in the alternative under section 326 Penal Code
By his order dated October 23 1974 the learned Metro politan Magistrate V Court Bangalore directed all the 20 accused to take their trial before the Sessions Court for offences under section 324 326 and 307 read with section 34 of the Penal Code
At the commencement of the trial before the learned First Additional District and Sessions Judge Bangalore two preliminary questions were raised one by the prosecution and the other by the accused
It was contended by the prosecution that the specification of particular sections in the committal order did not preclude the Sessions Court from framing a new charge under section 120 B of the Penal Code
On the other hand it was contended by the accused that there was no sufficient ground for proceeding with the prosecu tion and therefore they ought to be discharged
The learned Additional Sessions Judge accepted the contention of the prosecution that he had the power to frame a charge under section 120 B
The correctness of that view was not challenged before us by Mr Frank Anthony who appears on behalf of the accused
That is as it ought to be because the power of the Sessions Court to frame an appropriate charge is not tram melled by the specifications contained in the committal order
The Sessions Court being seized of the case has jurisdiction to frame appropriate charges as the facts may justify or the circumstances may warrant
The contention of the accused that they ought to be discharged was accepted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge partly
lie held that there was no case against accused Nos 11 12 and 16 and that 116 they were therefore entitled to be discharged
By an order dated August 8 1975 the learned Judge
discharged those three
accused in the
exercise of his powers under section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973
We are informed that the correctness of that order is under challenge before the High Court in a proceeding taken by the State of Karna taka
We are not concerned with that order in these ap peals
After discharging accused Nos 11 12 and 16 the learned
Judge turning to the case against the remaining accused observed that there was some material to hold that they have had something to do with the incident which occurred on 6 12 1973 in the ITI Colony Bangalore
The learned Judge adjourned the case to September 1 1975 for framing specific charges as made out from the material on record against the rest of the accused persons Two revision petitions were filed against this order one by accused Nos
10 13 14 and 15 and the other by accused Nos
17 to 20
Those petitions were allowed by the High Court on the view that there was no sufficient ground for proceeding against the petitioners before it
The High Court accordingly quashed the proceedings in regard to
them which has led to these appeals
Mr Mookerjee who appears on behalf of the State of Karnataka contends that the High Court ought not to have exercised its powers to quash the proceedings against the respondents without giving to the Sessions Court which was seized of the case an opportunity to consider whether there was sufficient material on the record on which to frame charges against the respondents
It is argued that the Sessions Court had adjourned the case for a consideration of that very question and it was not proper for the High Court to withdraw the case as it were and to exercise its ex traordinary powers thereby preventing the Trial Court from examining the sufficiency of the material which it is the primary duty and function of that Court to examine
There is some apparent justification for this grievance because the language in which the sessions Court couched its order would seem to suggest that it had adjourned the case to September 1 1975 for consideration of the question as to
whether there was sufficient ground for proceeding against the respondents
But a careful reading of the Sessions Courts judgment would reveal that while discharg ing accused Nos 11 12 and 16 it came to the conclusion that insofar as the other accused were
concerned there was some material to hold that they were connected with the incident
The case was therefore adjourned by the Court for flaming specific charges against them
In other words the learned Judge adjourned the case not for deciding wheth er any charge at all could be framed against the remaining accused but for the purpose of deciding as to which charge or charges could appropriately be framed on the basis of the material before him
The grievance therefore that the High Court interfered with the sessions Court s order prematurely is not justified
The second limb of Mr Mookerjee s argument is that in any event the High Court could not take upon itself the task of assessing or appreciating the weight of material on the record in order to find whether any charges could be legiti mately framed against the respondents
So 117 long as there is some material on the record to connect the accused with the crime says
the learned counsel the case must go on and the High Court has no jurisdiction
to put a precipitate or premature end to the proceedings on the belief that the prosecution is not likely to succeed
This in our opinion is too broad a proposition to accept
Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 2 of 1974 provides that If upon consideration of the record of the case and the documents submitted there with and after hearing the submissions of the accused and the prosecution in this be half the Judge considers that there is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused he shall discharge the accused and record his reasons for so doing This section is contained in Chapter XVIII called Trial Before a Court of Sessions
It is clear from the provi sion that the Sessions Court has the power to discharge an accused if after perusing the record and hearing the parties he comes to the conclusion for reasons to be re corded that there is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused
The object of the provision which requires the Sessions Judge to record his reasons is to enable the superior court to examine the correctness of the reasons for which the Sessions Judge has held that there is of is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused
The High Court therefore is entitled to go into the reasons given by the Sessions Judge in support of his order and to determine for itself whether the order is justified by the facts and circumstances of the case
Section 482 of the New Code which corresponds to section 561 A of the Code of 1898 provides that Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to limit or affect the inherent powers of the High Court to make such orders as may be necessary to give effect to any order under this Code or to prevent abuse of the process of any Court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice
 In the exercise of this
whole some power the High Court is entitled to quash a proceeding if it comes to the conclu sion that allowing the proceeding to continue would be an abuse of the process of the Court or that the ends of justice require that the proceeding ought to be quashed
The saving of the High Court s inherent powers both in civil and criminal matters is designed to
achieve a salu tary public purpose which is that a court proceeding ought not to be permitted to degenerate into weapon of harassment or persecution
In a criminal case the veiled object behind a lame prosecution the very nature of the material on which the structure of the prosecution rests and the like would justify the High Court in quashing the proceeding in the interest of justice
The ends of justice are higher than the ends of mere law though justice has got to be
administered according to laws made by the legislature
The compelling necessity for making these observations is that without a proper realisation of the object and pur pose of the provision which seeks to
save the inherent powers of the High Court to do justice between the State and its
subjects it would be impossible
to appreciate the width and contours of that salient jurisdiction
118 Let us then turn to the facts of the case to see wheth er the High Court was justified in holding that the proceed ings against the respondents ought to be quashed in order to prevent abuse of the process of the court and in order to secure the ends of justice
We asked the State counsel time and again to point out any data or material on the basis of which a reasonable likelihood of the respondents being convicted of any offence in connection with the attempted murder of the complainant could be predicated
A few bits here and a few bits there on which the prosecution proposes to rely are woefully inadequate for connecting the respond ents with the crime howsoever skilfully one may attempt to weave those bits into a presentable whole
There is no material on the record on which any tribunal could reason ably convict the respondents for any offence connected with the assault on the complainant
It is undisputed that the respondents were nowhere near the scene of offence at the time of the assault
What is alleged against them is that they had conspired to commit that assault
This we think is one of those cases in which a charge of conspiracy is hit upon for the mere reason that evidence of direct involvement of the accused is lacking
we have been taken through the statements recorded by the police during the course of investigation and the other material
The worst that can be said against the respondents on the basis thereof is that they used to meet one another frequently after the dismissal of accused No 1 and prior to the commission of the assault on the complainant
Why they met what they said and whether they held any deliberations at all are matters on which no witness has said a word
In the circumstances it would be a sheer waste of public time and money to permit the proceedings to continue against the respondents
The High Court was therefore justified in holding that for meeting the ends of justice the proceedings against the respondents ought to be quashed
Learned counsel for the State Government relies upon a decision of this Court in RP Kapur vs The State of Punjab 1 in which it was held that in the exercise of its inher ent jurisdiction under section 561A of the Code of 1898 the High Court cannot embark upon an enquiry as to whether the evi dence in the case is reliable or not
That may be so
But in the instant case the question is not whether any reli ance can be placed on the veracity of this or that particu lar witness
The fact of the matter is that there is no material on the record on the basis of which any tribunal could reasonably come to the conclusion that the respondents are in any manner connected with the incident leading to the prosecution
Gajendragadkar J who spoke for the Court in Kapur s1 case observes in his judgment that it was not possible desirable or expedient to lay down any inflexible rule which would govern the exercise of the High Court s inherent jurisdiction
The three instances cited in the judgment as to when the High Court would be justified in exercising its inherent jurisdiction are only illustrative and can in the very nature of things not be regarded as exhaustive
Considerations justifying the exercise of inherent powers for securing the ends of justice naturally vary from case to 1 119 case and a jurisdiction as wholesome as the one conferred by section 482 ought not to be encased within the strait jacket of a rigid formula
On the other hand the decisions cited
by learned counsel for the respondents in Vadilal Panchaly
DD Gha digaonkar1 and Cen tarS Spinning  Manufacturing Co vs State of Maharashtra2 show that it is wrong to say that at the stage of flaming charges the court cannot apply
its judicial mind to the consideration whether or not there is any ground for presuming the commission of the offence by the accused
As observed in the latter case the order framing a charge affects a person s liberty substantially and therefore it is the duty of the court to consider judi cially whether the material warrants the framing of the charge
It cannot blindly accept the decision of the prose cution that the accused be
asked to face a trial
In Vadilal Panchal s case
supra section 203 of the old Code was under consideration which provided that the Magistrate could dismiss a complaint if after considering certain matters mentioned in the section there was in his judgment no sufficient ground for proceeding with the case
To art extent section 227 of the new Code contains an analogous power which is conferred on the Sessions Court
It was held by this Court while considering the true scope of section 203 of the old Code that the Magistrate
was not bound to accept the result of an enquiry or investigation and that he must apply his judicial mind to the material on which he had to form his judgment
These decisions show that for  the purpose of determining whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding against an accused the court possesses a comparatively wider discretion in the exercise of which
it can determine the question whether the material on the record if unrebutted is such on the basis of which a conviction can be said reasonably to be possible
We are therefore in agreement with the view of the High Court that the material on which
the prosecution proposesto rely against the respondents is wholly inade quate to
sustain the charge that they are in any manner connected with the assault on the complainant
We would however like to observe that nothing in our judgment or in the judgment of the High Court should be taken as detract ing from the case of the prosecution to
which we have not applied our mind as against accused Nos 1 to 9
The case against those accused must take its due and lawful course
The appeals are accordingly dismissed
SR Appeals dismissed
1 AIR 1969 SC 1113


Summary:
The apellants are accused Nos 10 13 14 15 and 17 to 20 before the Sessions Court for trial under various offences viz  324 326 and 307 read with section 34 of the Penal Code
While discharging accused Nos 11 12 and 16 us 227 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 on 881975 the learned Sessions Judge observed that there was some materi al to hold that the remaining accused have had something to do with the incident which occurred on 6121973 in ITI Colony Banglore and adjourned the case to September 1 1975 for framing specific charges as made out from the material on record against the rest of the accused person 
Two revision petitions were filed against this order one by accussed Nos 10 13 14 and 15 and the other by accused Nos
17 to 20
These petitions were allowed by the High Court on the view that there was no sufficient ground for proceeding against the petitioners before it
The High Court accordingly quashed the the proceedings in regard to them
In appeal by Special Leave the appellant State contended 1 The High Court ought not to have exercised its power to quash the proceedings against the respondent without giving to the Sessions Court which was seized of the case an opportunity to consider whether there was sufficient material on the record on which to frame charges against the respondents
ii In any event the High Court could not take upon itself the task of assessing or appreci ating the weight of material on the record in order to find whether any charges could be legitimately framed against the respondents
Dismissing the appeal the Court HELD 1 The High Court was justified in holding that for meeting the ends of justice the proceedings against the respondents ought to be quashed
It would be a sheer waste of public time and money to permit the proceedings to continue against the respondent when there is no material on the record on which any tribunal could reasonably convict them for any offence connected with the assault on the com plainant
This is one of these cases in which a charge of conspiracy is hit upon for the mere reason that evidence of direct involvement of the accused is lacking
118 A D E 2 The saving of the High Court s inherent powers both in civil and criminal matters is designed to achieve a Salutary public purpose which is that a Court proceedings ought not to be permitted to degenerate into a weapon of harassment or persecution
In a criminal case the veiled object behind a lame prosecution the very nature of the material on which the structure of the prosecution rests and the like would justify the High Court in quashing the pro ceeding in the interest of justice
117 F G 3 Considerations justifying the exercise of inherent powers for securing the ends of justice vary from case to case and a jurisdiction as wholesome as the one conferred by section 482 ought not to be encased within the strait jacket of a rigid formula
The three instances  cited in the Judgment to when the High Court would be justified in exercising its inherent jurisdiction are only illustrative and can in the very nature of things not be regarded as exhaustive
118 F H 119 A 114 RP Kapur vs State of Punjab explained 4 It is wrong to say that at the stage of framing charges the Court cannot apply its judicial mind to the consideration whether or not there is any ground for presum ing the commission of the offence
119 B 5 While considering whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding against an accused
the court pos sesses a comparatively wider discretion in the exercise of which it can determine the question whether the material on the record
if unrebutted is such on the basis of which a conviction can be said reasonably to be possible
119 B E Vadilal Panchal vs D D Ghadigaonkar   Century Spinning  Manufacturing Co vs State of Maharashtra applied
6 In the instant case the High Court is right in its view that the materials on which the prosecution proposed to rely against the respondents is wholly inadequate to sustain the charge that they are in any manner connected with the assault on the complainant
119 E F 7 The grievance that the High Court interfered with the Sessions  Court s order prematurely is not justified
The case was adjourned by the Sessions Judge not for deciding whether any charge at all could be framed against the remaining accused but for the purpose of deciding as to which charge or charges could appropriately be framed on the basis of the material before him
116 G H 8 The object of section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act 2 of 1974 is to enable the superior Court to examine the correctness of the reasons for which the Sessions Judge has held that there is not sufficient ground for proceed ing against the accused
117 C D 9 The High Court is entitled to go into the reasons given by the Sessions Judge in support of his order and to determine for itself whether the order is justified by the facts and circumstances of the case
117 D E 
10 In the exercise of the wholesome power us 482 of the Act 2 of 1974 section 561 of 1898 Code the High Court is entitled to quash a proceeding if it comes to the conclusion that allowing the proceeding to continue would be an abuse of the process of the Court or that the ends of justice require that the proceeding ought to be quashed
117 E F Observations The ends of justice are higher than the ends of mere law though justice has got to be administered according to laws made by the legislature
Without a proper realisation of the object and purpose of the provision which seeks to save the inherent powers of the High Court to do justice between the State and its subjects it would be impossible to appreciate the width and contours of that salient jurisdiction
117 G H