Jagdish Singh vs State of Punjab - 2026 Supreme(P&H) 425

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2026 Supreme(P&H) 425

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
VINOD S.BHARDWAJ
Jagdish Singh – Appellant
Versus
State of Punjab – Respondent

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner:Mr. Kulwinder Bhargav, Advocate, Mr. Jashan Deep Singh Bains, Advocate, and Mr. Robin Arora, Advocate Mr. Mansur Ali, Sr. Advocate, with Mr. Vaibhav Garg, Advocate, and Ms. Amarpreet Kooner, Advocate Mr. Mukesh Singla, Advocate
For the Respondent:Mr. Saurav Verma, Addl. A.G. Punjab and Mr. Mohit Kapoor, Sr. DAG, Punjab, Mr. P.S. Ahluwalia, Sr. Advocate, (Amicus) with Mr. Udaiveer Sidhu, Advocate, Mr. Simarpreet Sekhon, Advocate, Ms. Isha Mehta, Advocate and Mr. Akash Gahlawat, Advocate

JUDGMENT :
VINOD S. BHARDWAJ, J.

Giving rise to a question as to whether an FIR can be quashed and/or a final report be filed by the Police for offences under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the Act of 1957) in light of the bar under Section 22 of the Act of 1957 and effect of Section 21(6) thereof, these five petitions are being decided by a common judgment.

2. Facts involved in the respective petitions are extracted as under:

CRM-M-66839-2025: Jagdish Singh Vs. State of Punjab.

2.1 Challenge in the above petition is to the FIR bearing No.165 dated 24.08.2020, registered under Section 21 (1) of the Act of 1957, read with Sections 279, 379 and 188 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 (Challan presented for offences only under Section 21(1) of the Act of 1957), registered at Police Station Garhshankar, District Hoshiarpur, along with the final report and including the order dated 01.08.2025, whereby their application for discharge had been dismissed and charge has been framed for offences under Sections 21(1) of the Act of 1957 and Secti