( 1 ) THE appellant, who was the accused in C. C, No. 9 of 1975 on the file of the Special Judge, bangalore, has filed this appeal against the conviction and sentences passed against him by the learned Special Judge in his judgment dated 28-6-1976 for offences punishable under Sections 420 and 471, I. P. C. on two counts each and Section 5 (2) read with Section 5 (1) (d) of the prevention of Corruption Act and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month and to pay a fine of Rs. 100/- in default to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for 15 days for each of the aforesaid five offences and directing the substantive sentences to run concurrently.

( 2 ) THE appellant was working as Upper Division Clerk in 26, Equipment Depot, Air Force, bangalore, in the accounts section till May 1975. He was entitled to medical advance and medical reimbursement in respect of the treatment of himself and the members of his family from the Department in his capacity as such Government servant. The appellant presented an application for medical advance of Rs. 500/- on 25-2-1972 for the treatment of his wife Kurshit mumtaz Begum in the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Bangalore, to which she was said to have been admitted as an In-patient on 24-2-1972 for Asthma. He drew the advance amount of rs. 500/- in two instalments of Rs. 250/- each on 4-3-1972 and 11-3-1972 respectively. On 19-6-72, he gave an application for medical reimbursement of Rs. 254/- with relevant documents. His application was passed for payment of Rs. 238/- by the C. D. A. , Dehradun. It was adjusted towards the advance drawn by the appellant. According to the prosecution, the wife of the appellant was not an in-patient in the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Bangalore, at these relevant point of time and the appellant has forged the relevant documents filed in support of the claim of medical reimbursement.

( 3 ) ON receipt of the information, P. W. 21 M. L. Narasimha Murthy, Inspector of Police, S. P. E. , central Bureau of Investigation, conducted a preliminary enquiry which revealed that the appellant had filed false applications enclosing forged prescription chits, cash bills and the essentiality certificate. He registered a case in R. C. No. 18 of 1974 against the appellant and submitted the F. I. R. After completing the investigation, he placed a charge-sheet against the appellant for offences punishable under Sections 420 and 471, I. P. C. and Section 5 (2) read with section 5 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

( 4 ) THE defence of the appellant was that his wife was under the treatment of Dr. Mir Asaf Ali, P. W. 20, attached to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital and he has signed the relevant documents which he (Appellant) had produced along with his application for reimbursement of the medical charges. Misunderstandings arose between P. W. 20 and himself regarding the payment of fees and therefore, P. W. 20 gave false evidence against him. Similarly, there was some quarrel between him and the staff members of Geetha Pharmacy. So they came forward to support the prosecution by giving false evidence. As regards the remaining witnesses, he was unable to state as to why they gave false evidence against him.

( 5 ) THE learned Special Judge, rejecting the defence of the appellant and accepting the prosecution case, found the appellant guilty of the offences charged and convicted and sentenced him as aforesaid.

( 6 ) SHRI V. V. Srinivasachar, learned Counsel for the appellant raised a legal question by way of additional ground against the competence of the learned Special Judge taking cognizance of the offence of forgery under Section 471, I. P. C. against the appellant in view of the amended provisions of Section 195 (1) (b) (ii) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (shortly called the 'new Code'), The matter was heard at some length by D. B. Lal, J. , and the learned Judge referred the matter to a larger Bench as he fe