1. Trial court's refusal to resume proceedings after the expiry of a stay period, directing the party to approach the High Court instead. (Para 2 )
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2020 Supreme(SC) 601
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN, NAVIN SINHA, K.M. JOSEPH, JJ.
ASIAN RESURFACING OF ROAD AGENCY PVT. LTD. & ANR. – Appellant(s) VERSUS
CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION – Respondent(s)
MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO. 1577 OF 2020 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 1375-1376 OF 2013
Decided On : 15-10-2020
Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioner(s):Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Advocate
For the Respondent(s):S.V. Raju, Binu Tamta, Rukhmini Bobde, V.V.V. Pattabhiram, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocates
For the Petitioner(s):Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Advocate
For the Respondent(s):S.V. Raju, Binu Tamta, Rukhmini Bobde, V.V.V. Pattabhiram, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocates
Important Points
IMPORTANT POINT
Whatever stay has been granted by any court including High Court automatically expires within a period of six months and unless extension is granted for good reason, within next six months, trial Court is, on expiry of first period of six months, to set a date for trial and go ahead with same.
Whatever stay has been granted by any court including High Court automatically expires within a period of six months and unless extension is granted for good reason, within next six months, trial Court is, on expiry of first period of six months, to set a date for trial and go ahead with same.
Subject
Trial and Procedure - Stay of Proceedings
Act Referred
CRIMINAL LAW: .
Headnote
Criminal Law – Trial of Case – Period of stay – In our pyramidical structure under Constitution of India, Supreme Court is at Apex, and High Courts, though not subordinate administratively, are certainly subordinate judicially – Whatever stay has been granted by any court including High Court automatically expires within a period of six months and unless extension is granted for good reason, within next six months, trial Court is, on expiry of first period of six months, to set a date for trial and go ahead with same – Impugned order set aside with a direction to Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate to set down case for hearing immediately. (Paras 2 and 3)
Result : Miscellaneous Application disposed of with observation.
Legal Category Hierarchy
Table of Contents
2. Dispute over whether a trial court can resume proceedings stayed by a High Court without a specific order from that High Court. (Para 2 )
3. The court emphasized the judicial subordination of High Courts to the Supreme Court and the mandatory automatic expiry of stay orders. (Para 2 )
4. Stay orders automatically expire after six months unless extended by a speaking order justifying exceptional circumstances. (Para 1 , 2 )
5. Order set aside; trial court directed to set the case for hearing immediately. (Para 3 )
6. What is the default duration of a stay on civil or criminal proceedings?
Stays automatically expire six months from the date of the order unless a speaking order grants an extension. (Para 1 , 2 )
7. What must a speaking order demonstrate to extend a stay beyond six months?
The order must show the case is of such an exceptional nature that continuing the stay is more important than finalizing the trial. (Para 1 )
8. How does the judicial hierarchy affect the application of Supreme Court directions on stay expirations?
High Courts are judicially subordinate to the Supreme Court; therefore, trial courts must follow Supreme Court mandates regarding the automatic expiry of stays, regardless of which court granted the stay. (Para 2 )
ORDER
1. Having heard Mr. Dilip Annasaheb Taur, learned counsel for the applicant and Mr. S.V. Raju, learned ASG for the respondent, we are constrained to point out that in our directions contained in the judgment delivered in Criminal Appeal Nos. 1375-1376 of 2013 [Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. vs. Central Bureau of Investigation] and, in particular, para 35, it is stated thus:
“35. … …. In cases where stay is granted in future, the same will end on expiry of six months from the date of such order unless similar extension is granted by a speaking order. The speaking order must show that the case was of such exceptional nature that continuing the stay was more important than having the trial finalized. The trial Court where order of stay of civil or criminal proceedings is produced, may fix a date not beyond six months of the order of stay so that on expiry of period of stay, proceedings can commence unless order of extension of stay is produced.”
2. Learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pune, by his order dated 04.12.2019, has instead of following our judgment in letter as well as spirit, stated that the Complainant should move an application before the High Court to resume the trial. The Magistrate goes on to say: “The lower Court cannot pass any order which has been stayed by the Hon’ble High Court, Bombay with due respect of ratio of the judgment in Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. (supra).” We must remind the Magistrates all over the country that in our pyramidical structure under the Constitution of India, the Supreme Court is at the Apex, and the High Courts, though not subordinate administratively, are certainly subordinate judicially. This kind of orders fly in the face of para 35 of our judgment. We expect that the Magistrates all over the country will follow our order in letter and spirit. Whatever stay has been granted by any court including the High Court automatically expires within a period of six months, and unless extension is granted for good reason, as per our judgment, within the next six months, the trial Court is, on the expiry of the first period of six months, to set a date for the trial and go ahead with the same.
3. With this observation, the order dated 04.12.2019 is set aside with a direction to the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pune to set down the case for hearing immediately.
4. Miscellaneous Application is disposed of accordingly.
