Judgment

SEN, J. :- This appeal by special leave is directed against an order passed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court dated May 9, 1984 upholding with certain modifications the order of the Additional Sessions Judge, Barnala dated April 24, 1984 directing that the two sessions trials be consolidated and clubbed together, and the evidence recorded in one case be read as evidence in the other.

2. The short point involved in this appeal is whether under S. 223 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 it is permissible for the Court to club and consolidate the case on a police challan and the case on a complaint where the prosecution versions in the police challan case and the complaint case are materially different, contradictory and mutually exclusive. The question is whether the Court should in the facts and circumstances of the case direct that the two cases should be tried together but not consolidated i.e. the evidence be recorded separately in both cases and they may be disposed of simultaneously except to the extent that the witnesses for the prosecution which are common to both may be examined in one case and their evidence be read as evidence in the other.

3. Shortly stated, the f