The court ruled that the CBI lacked jurisdiction to proceed against the petitioners due to insufficient evidence linking them to the alleged crimes as transporters, not exporters.

ORDER :

M.NAGAPRASANNA, J.

The petitioners, in all these cases, call in question proceedings in C.C.Nos.59, 61, 63, 78, 97 and 99 of 2022, pending before the Civil Judge and JMFC, Ankola, Uttara Kannada arising out of FIR registered for offences punishable under Sections 120B r/w Sections 379 , 411, 420 and 447 of the IPC and Sections 4(1), 4(1A) r/w 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (‘MMDR Act’ for short). The petitioners are either individual Directors or the Company, M/s MSPL Limited (hereinafter referred to as the ‘the Company’ for short). Since facts leading to registration of crime and the crime leading to charge sheet all the C.C. numbers are common in all these cases, they are taken up together and considered by this common order.

2. Facts, in brief, germane are as follows; -

2.1. On 03-11-2009 accused No.1/Company enters into an agreement with M/s Amalagiris, accused No.8 in respect of procurement of iron ore. The transaction goes on in terms of the said agreement. Certain developments take place where all the mining activities come under the supervision of the Apex Court in the case of SAMAJ PARIVARTANA SAMUDAYA AND OTHERS v. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND OTHERS in Writ Petition (Civil) No.562 of 2009 wherein the Apex Court appointed a Committee to secure a report with regard to illegal mining activities in Hospet, Bellary District. M/s MSPL Limited which is a Company registered under the Companies Act has been carrying out its business of mining, trading of iron ore and windmills for four decades. The Apex Court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary investigation in respect of 32.27 lakh tonnes of iron ore exported from 01-01-2009 to 31-05-2010 from Belekeri Port by various companies.

2.2. Pursuant to the preliminary inquiry/investigation conducted, the Apex Court in terms of its order dated 16-09-2013 permitted the CBI to register criminal cases against only those exporters who were enquired into in the preliminary inquiry and who had exported iron ore of more than 50,000 MTs without valid permits. Pursuant to the said direction, the CBI then registers a crime against petitioners and others for the afore-quoted offences under the IPC and Sections 4(1), 4(1A) r/w Section 21 (5) of the MMDR Act, 1957. The CBI investigates into the matter, but does not file a charge sheet immediately. However, after about 9 years of investigation it files a charge sheet on 01-02-2022. The concerned Court takes cognizance of the offence on 09-02-2022 and 18-02-2022 respectively and aggrieved by the taking of cognizance of offences, these petitions are preferred calling in question the entire proceedings in the criminal case. The order dated 20-12-2023 passed in Crl.P.No.101257 of 2022 quashing the proceedings reads as follows:

“…. …. ….

7. The status of the Company is a matter of record. The agreement between accused No.8 and the petitioner/Company is also a matter of record. In the year 2012, the Apex Court while dealing with matters pertaining to mining in Karnataka, in a petition filed by Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and others in Writ Petition (Civil) No.562 of 2009 in terms of its order dated 07-09-2012 directed the CBI to conduct preliminary investigation in respect of 50.79 lakh metric tonnes of iron ore which was said to have been exported between 01-01-2009 and 31-05-2010 particularly from Belekeri port by various Companies in the State of Karnataka. The CBI and the Anti Corruption Bureau conducted investigation and filed a preliminary enquiry report before the Ape