Point of Law: Section 311 of Criminal Procedure Code, confers upon Court power to summon material witness or examine person present and same does not envisages power to allow a party to place on record documents as was prayer made in application.

JUDGMENT :

(Ajay Mohan Goel, J.)

1. By way of this petition, the petitioner has challenged order dated 04.03.2022, passed by the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Manali, Distt. Kullu, H.P., in terms whereof an application filed under Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code, with a prayer to allow the applicant to place on record the documents appended therein, has been dismissed.

2. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the impugned order.

3. The respondent herein has filed a complaint against the petitioner under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. This complaint was filed in the year 2016 and is still pending adjudication. After the statement of the accused was recorded under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code and after seven opportunities were granted to him to lead his evidence, he failed to lead complete evidence and thereafter when the matter was being listed for final hearing, an application stood filed by the accused under Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code, copy whereof is appended with the petition as Annexure P4. The prayer made in the application was to the effect that the applicant intended to place on record the record of Civil Suit No.96 of 2016, titled Duni Chand Versus Budhi Prakash and others, as the production of the said record alongwith documents was essential for the decision of the complaint filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

4. This application has been rejected by learned Court below, on the ground that perusal of the record demonstrated that sufficient opportunities were provided to accused to lead evidence and despite seven opportunities having been provided, he failed to lead his entire evidence and now when the matter was at the stage of arguments, the application stood filed and further the accused had not assigned any cogent reason for not filing the application to place on record the documents at the earlier stage. Learned Court below also observed that the accused could not convince the Court as to how the documents were necessary for the just decision of the case and on these basis, the application was dismissed.

5. Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that any Court may at any stage of any inquiry, trial or other proceedings under this Code, summon any person as a witness, or examine any person in attendance, though not summoned as a witness, or recall and re-examine any person already examined and the Court shall summon and examine or recall and re-examine any such person if his evidence appears to it to be essential to the just decision of the case.

6. First of all, this Court fails to understand that in the teeth of statutory language of Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code, how the application to place on record the documents pertaining to the Civil Suit referred therein was maintainable. To be more precise, Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code, confers upon the Court the power to summon material witness or examine person present and the same does not envisages the power to allow a party to place on record the documents as was the prayer made in the application. Otherwise also, it being a matter of record that after recording of statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code, seven opportunities were granted to him to lead his evidence and as he had failed to lead his complete evidence despite more than sufficient opportunities having been granted to him, apparently the filing of the application was nothing but an abuse of the process of law to delay the proceedings.

7. A careful perusal of the application otherwise also demonstrates that there is not even a whisper therein, as to what prevented the accused to move an appropriate application to bring on record the documents which were intended to be placed on record by way of application subsequently filed at the relevant time or during the course when opportunity was granted to him to lea