Summary
Under s. 146(1) Criminal Procedure Code, a Magistrate referred to a Civil Court of competent jurisdiction the question as to which of the parties was, at the relevant point of time, in possession of the subject-matter of dispute in a proceeding under s. 145 Cr. P.C. Under s. 24, Civil Procedure Code, the District Judge transferred the reference to another Civil Court. It was contended that the District Judge acted without jurisdiction because (i) the reference was to a persona designata, and (ii) the provisions of C.P.C. did not apply to the proceeding as it was not a proceeding in a court of Civil jurisdiction within the meaning of s. 141, C.P.C.
HELD:-(i) Where a special or local statute refers to a constituted court as a court and does not refer to the presiding officer of the court, the reference cannot be said to be to a persona designata. The power under.s. 146(1) is not to refer the matter to the presiding Judge of a Civil Court, but to a court. [396A-C].(ii)The provisions of the Civil Procedure Code apply generally to a proceeding before a civil court arising out of a reference made by,,& Magistrate under s. 146(1) Cr.P.C. F399 E-F]Adaikappa Chettiar v. Chandrasekhara Thevar, 74 I.A. 264, Mamg Ba Thaw v. Ma Pin, 61 I.A. 158 and South Asia Industries (P) Ltd. v. S. B. Sarup Singh, [1965] 2 S.C.R.756 applied.Section 24 C.P.C. refers to "other proceeding in any court sub-ordinate to it" and not to a civil proceeding pending before a subordinate court. The term "proceeding" is comprehensive enough to include all matters coming up for judicial adjudication and is not confined to civil proceedings alone, and therefore, there is no need to invoke s. 141, V.P.C. [399 F-H]Obiter:-The proceeding before the civil court is a civil proceeding as contemplated by s. 141 C.P.C. [398 F-H]A proceeding stemming from a criminal matter does not always bear the stamp of a criminal proceeding. [397 D-E]Sri Sheonath Prasad v. City Magistrate, Varanasi, A.I.R.1959 All. 467, disapproved.The Magistrate when he refers the question to a civil court, does not confer a part of his criminal jurisdiction upon the civil court.Under s. 146(1D), Cr.P.C., neither an appeal nor a revision lies against the finding of the civil court in the reference, because of the express provision and not because the Proceeding before- the civil court is not a civil proceeding. [398 A-C]394See the full content of this document
Extract
Ramchandra Aggarwal And Anr. VS. State Of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
PETITIONER: RAMCHANDRA AGGARWAL AND ANR.Vs.RESPONDENT: STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ANR.DATE OF JUDGMENT: 05/05/1966BENCH: ACT: Code of Criminal Procedure (Act 5 of 1898), s. 146 (1)- Reference by Magistrate to Civil Court-If to a persona designata.Code of Civil Procedure (Act 5 of 1908), s. 24-Jurisdiction of District Judge to transfer reference from one Civil Court to another.JUDGMENT: CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION:- Criminal Appeal No. 113 of 1965.Appeal from the judgment and order dated October 26, 1964 of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal Revision No. 803 of 1963.J. P. Goyal, for the appellants.O. P. Rana and Atiqur Rehman, for respondent No.1.S. K. Mehta and K. L. Mehta, for respondent No., 2.B. R. L. lyengar and B. R. G. K. Achar, for the Intervener.The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Mudholkar, J. The only point which falls to be decided in this appeal by certificate gra...
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