( 1 ) THE petitioner above named, has preferred this Criminal Misc. Application under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (for short, the Code) for quashing and setting aside Inquiry Case No. 18/2000 filed in the court of the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Sanand and for quashing and setting aside M. Case No. 15/2000 of Sanand Police Station and for quashing and setting aside the order on 29. 5. 2000 in Inquiry Case No. 18/2000 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class at Sanand. It seems that the aforesaid Inquiry and M. Case was filed by the second respondent before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Sanand. A copy of the said complaint has been placed at page 16, Annexure a to the petition.

( 2 ) ACCORDING to the case of the contesting respondent in the said criminal case, the contesting respondent has been serving as General Manager in a Limited Company named in the complaint and the said company has been manufacturing clothes of different nature. That a consignment was entrusted by the said Company for being carried and delivered to accused No. 1 and 2 and the said consignment was entrusted to accused No. 3 i. e. the petitioner for the purpose of being carried to the consignee. It is also contended by the contesting respondent in the said criminal complaint that the consignment was to be delivered to the concerned consignee i. e. accused No. 1 and 2 on submission of the papers and the papers could be cleared only on payment of due amount. It is the contention of the said contesting respondent that the four accused persons committed criminal conspiracy and as a part of the said criminal conspiracy, the said consignment was delivered by the petitioner to the consignee without the papers being released and without the payment being made. That thereby, the petitioner and other accused committed offence punishable under section 420, 407 and 120-B read with section 114 of IPC. Therefore, the said complaint was filed before the said court and thereafter the trial court has passed order dated 29. 5. 2002 requiring the complaint to be referred to the police station for investigation under section 156 (3) of the said Code. Therefore, the said police station has registered the said FIR as M. Case.

( 3 ) THE present petitioner is original accused no. 3 in the said matter and it has been contended here that the court where the complaint is filed, has no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint and, therefore, the court could not pass an order for investigation under section 156 (3) of the Code. That no offence can be said to have been committed by the present petitioner and, therefore, the learned Magistrate has not applied his mind before referring the complaint for investigation to the concerned police station. That it may, at the most, amount to a civil dispute. Therefore, also no investigation could have been ordered by the trial court. That therefore, the aforesaid complaint and the aforesaid FIR are illegal and deserve to be quashed and set aside. The petitioner has, therefore, prayed to quash and set aside the complaint and the FIR.

( 4 ) IT seems that on receipt of the present application, notice was issued and in response to the service of notice, Mr M C Bhatt, learned Advocate appears on behalf of the contesting respondent and Ms N V Joshi, learned APP for the State. I have heard the learned Advocates for the parties and perused the papers.

( 5 ) MR R S Sanjanwala, learned Advocate, on behalf of the petitioner, has contended that no part of action has taken place within the jurisdiction of the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Sanand and, therefore, the said court could not have been taken cognizance of the offence and, therefore, the order in question is illegal on the face of it on the ground of want of jurisdiction. The question of jurisdiction may, at times, to be a mixed question of law and fact and, therefore, it would not be open to this court to enter i