I.D.DUA, J.

(1) THESE two criminal appeals (Nos. 60 and 63 of 1965) with certificate raise a common question and are, therefore, being disposed of by a common judgment. The Gujarat High court also recorded the main judg ment only in Criminal Appeal No. 60 of 1965.

(2) THE question which arises for determination is whether, where several accused persons jointly tried have been acquitted by the Trial court, the State can prefer one appeal against the acquittal of all of them. The High court held such ajoint appeal not to be maintainable under Cr. P. C., and so holding rejected the appeal by the State without going into the merits. The division bench of the High court speaking through Raju, J., recorded a very lengthy order though the reasoning in support of the non-maintainability of the joint appeal is confined to a couple of pages only. The High court in its order referred to S. 258, 410, 417,419 and 423 of the Code and came to the conclusion that the scheme of Ch. XXXI of the Code as disclosed by these S. and particularly by Section 419 is against the maintainability of a joint appeal by the State against an order acquitting several accused persons tried jointly. Sec