2015 Supreme(Kar) 1169

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
L. NARAYANA SWAMY, J.
Christy Fried Gram Industry, Bangalore and another - Petitioners
Vs.
State of Karnataka and others - Respondents
Writ Petition No. 6225 of 2014
Decided On : 30-10-2015

Headnote:CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973 - Section 93: [L. Narayana Swamy, J] Issuance of Search warrant - Offence relating to supply of substandard food - Issue of warrant deprived petitioner’s legitimate right of opportunity and safeguards provided under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 - Petitioners deprived of their legitimate defence available under law - Held, Issue of search warrant is contrary to Section 93. Search conducted thereupon thus prejudicially affected petitioner’s right and defence. Moreover order sheet not indicating basis, reasoning and requirement under what circumstances search warrant was issued.

       CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973 - Sections 154, 156, 460, 461: [L. Narayana Swamy, J] FIR - Registration of - Investigation and preliminary enquiry before registration of FIR - Validity - Held, The prosecution is not justified in conducting investigation before registration of FIR in the guise of preliminary enquiry and investigation for a period of about 18 months is beyond the 7 days period said to be permissible. Delay in lodging the FIR, loses the advantage of spontaneity, danger creeps in of the introduction of coloured version, exaggerated account or concocted story as a result of large number of consultations/ deliberations. Promptly lodged FIR reflects first hand information as to what has happened, and who was responsible for such an offence.

        The plea that any violation of provisions of Section 154 do not make entire proceedings illegal as Section 154 is not included in Sections 461 and 460 not tenable. Section 460 provides that if any Magistrate not empowered to do an act, does it in good faith, his proceedings shall not be set aside merely on the ground that he was not empowered. Section 461 the Code provides that if any Magistrate not being empowered by law to do certain acts as detailed therein does any of the acts, his proceeding shall be void. Therefore, the prosecution cannot take shelter under the said provisions to save the present proceedings.

       CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973 - Section 432: [L. Narayana Swamy, J] Abuse of process of law - Breach of contract for supply of substandard food by petitioners - Held, Breach of contract for supply of substandard food amounts only to civil in nature for which arbitration proceedings for determining the illegalities of either side is pending. Hence the prosecution launched against the petitioners is abuse of process of law, cannot be sustained.

       CONSTITUTION OF INDIA - Article 21: [L. Narayana Swamy, J] Fair investigation and fair trial - Offence under Prevention of Corruption Act - Held, There is no compelling reason for Lokayukta or Lokayukta Police to take each and every complaint and launch a criminal prosecution. The investigating agency must avoid entirely any kind of extraneous influence, and investigation must be carried out with equal alacrity and fairness irrespective of the status of the accused or the complainant, as a tainted investigation definitely leads to miscarriage of criminal justice, and thus deprives a man of his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Thus, every investigation must be judicious, fair, transparent and expeditious to ensure compliance with the rules of law, as is required under Articles 19, 20 & 21 of the Constitution. Fair investigation and fair trial are concomitant to preservation of fundamental right of an accused under Article 21. A victim of a crime, thus, is equally entitled to a fair investigation.

       FOOD SAFETY & STANDARDS ACT, 2006 - Sections 42 & 47: [L. Narayana Swamy, J] Food related offences - Investigation and initiation of proceedings by Lokayuktha Police without following procedure prescribed under FSS Act would be without jurisdiction and authority of law. Invoking provisions of Penal Code, is not proper.

       PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT, 1988 - Section 17: [L. Narayana Swamy, J] Investigation - Section 17 permits police to investigate offence punishable only under the Act - Investigation by police into other offences viz. under IPC without obtaining permission from Special judge would be Illegal.