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2014 Supreme(SC) 1092

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, JJ.
Kirit Shrimankar - Petitioner
Versus
Union of India & Others - Respondents
Writ Petition (Criminal) Nos. 109, 110, 112, 114, 175, 198 of 2013; 65, 78, 88, 90, 94, 95, 96, 124, 141, 144, 146, 151, 153, 163, 169, 172, 174, 176, 187 of 2014
Decided On : 20-11-2014

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Kapil Sibal, Dr. Rajeev Dhavan, Mr. V.K. Bali, Mr. Saurabh Kirpal, Ms. Manali Singhal, Mr. Aditya Soni, Ms. Christine Acy Kumar, Ms. Diksha Rai, Mr. Shyam Divan, Mr. Saurabh Kirpal, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, Mr. Nikhil Jain, Mr. V.K. Bali, Mr. Aditya Soni, Ms. Christine Acy Kumar, Mr. Gautam Awasthi, Mr. Saurabh Kirpal, Ms. Neeha Nagpal, Mr. Manesh Agarwal, Mr. E.C. Agrawala, Mr. Pankaj Bhatia, Mr. Vivek Chaudhary, Ms. Bharti Tyagi, Mr. Saurabh Kirpal, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, Mr. Gautam Awasthi, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, Mr. Nikhil Jain, Mr. Nikhil Jain, Mr. Gautam Awasthi, Dr. Rajeev Dhavan, Mr. Saurabh Kirpal, Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, Mr. Nikhil Jain, Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Dr. Vinod K. Tewari, Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Mr. Satish Pandey, Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Ms. Poli Kataki, Mr. Sumit Kumar, Mr. Ramakant Gaur, Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Ms. Shikha Sapra, Mr. Anil Kumar Tandale, Ms. Shikha Sapra, Mr. Tushar Joshi, Mr. Anil Kumar Tandale, Mr. R.K. Handoo, Mr. Yoginder Hondoo, Mr. N. Ganpathy
For the Respondents: Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Mr. V. Shekhar, Ms. Ranjana Narayan, Ms. Binu Tamta, Mr. Pankaj Pandey, Ms. Sonali Singh, Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, Mr. Shreekant N. Terdal

Headnote:

Customs Act, 1962 - Section 135 - Criminal Procedure Code - Sections 154, 155 and 157 - Constitution of India - Article 32 – Evidence – Service employee – Illegal and arbitrary - Court therefore also expressed that writ petition does not merit any consideration to be dealt with on various issues raised inasmuch as it will for petitioner to work out his remedy as and when any appropriate positive action is taken against petitioner - In course of hearing learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner now seeks to withdraw writ petition reserving petitioners liberty to work out his remedy in future if any such situation arises – Held, Solicitor General of India on other hand submitted after rule was issued in this writ petition spate of writ petitions came to be filed citing notice issued in this writ petition and interim order granted in this writ petition was also extended in all subsequent writ petitions wherever arrest did not take place - Solicitor General further contended by virtue of pendency of the writ petition for more than year in this Court the initiatives taken by respondents-Authorities for alleged violations provisions of Customs Act/Central Excise Act by issuance of summons could not proceeded with and thereby respondents-Authorities were put to serious prejudice - Solicitor General further contended that by resorting to withdrawal of writ petitions and by seeking to reserve their liberties it should not give scope for petitioners to again scuttle actions that may be initiated by the respondents provisions of Acts as well as Code - While appreciating the respective contentions of parties and for the present moment court find that the petitioners have expressed their desire to withdraw these writ petitions realizing remote possibility of getting any relief in these writ petitions having regard to premature stage at which this Court was approached by filing of these writ petitions court are convinced that petitioners can be permitted to withdraw these writ petitions with the right to work out their remedy and when any appropriate situation arises for working out such remedy - Petitions dismissed

ORDER :

Facts are being taken from W.P.(Crl) No.109/2013, which is the lead case in this batch of matters.

2. Heard learned counsel for the parties.

3. In the course of hearing of the Writ Petition, we find that the writ petition was premature. The petitioners seek for the prayers as have been couched in the writ petition where the petitioners pray for issuance of mandamus to determine the question of law, as to whether the allegation of commission of offence under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 would construe a bailable offence with further directions to comply with Sections 154, 155 and 157 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to investigate a cognizable/non-cognizable offence, if any, under Section 135 of the Customs Act. In fact, when we perused the averments contained in the Writ Petition the provocation for the petitioner to file this writ petition was the so-called search conducted in the residential premises of the petitioner's ex-wife on 11.06.2013, who was residing at C-103, Gokul Divine, James Wadi, Irla, Ville Parle (West), Mumbai-400 056 and nothing incriminating was detected in the said search. It was further averred therein that the Officers threatened that the petitioner would be arrested, incarcerated in jail and would face dire consequence if he would not submit to their dictates. On that basis the writ petition came to be filed in this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. We, therefore, expressed that it was highly premature for the petitioner to seek for extraordinary constitutional remedy under Article 32 of the Constitution of India based on such flimsy averments contained in the writ petition, inasmuch as such averments cannot form the basis for a prima facie apprehension of arrest. We, therefore, also expressed that the writ petition does not merit any consideration to be dealt with on the various issues raised, inasmuch as it will be for the petitioner to work out his remedy as and when any appropriate positive action is taken against the petitioner. In the course of hearing, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner now seeks to withdraw the writ petition reserving petitioner's liberty to work out his remedy in future, if any such situation arises.

4. Learned Solicitor General of India on the other hand submitted that after rule was issued in this writ petition spate of writ petitions came to be filed citing the notice issued in this writ petition and the interim order granted in this writ petition was also extended in all the subsequent writ petitions wherever the arrest did not take place. Learned Solicitor General further contended that by virtue of the pendency of the writ petition for more than a year in this Court the initiatives taken by the respondents-Authorities for the alleged violations under the provisions of the Customs Act/Central Excise Act by issuance of the summons could not be proceeded with and thereby the respondents-Authorities were put to serious prejudice. Learned Solicitor General further contended that by resorting to withdrawal of the writ petitions and by seeking to reserve their liberties, it should not give scope for the petitioners to again scuttle the actions that may be initiated by the respondents under the provisions of the Acts as well as the Code.

5. While appreciating the respective contentions of the parties and for the present moment as we find that the petitioners have expressed their desire to withdraw these writ petitions realizing the remote possibility of getting any relief in these writ petitions having regard to the premature stage at which this Court was approached by filing of these writ petitions, we are convinced that the petitioners can be permitted to withdraw these writ petitions with the right to work out their remedy as and when any appropriate situation arises for working out such remedy. We also make it clear that whatever impediment caused in pursuing the proceedings by the respondents pursuant to the issuance of the su


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