A court's jurisdiction to quash proceedings is limited to its territorial scope, reaffirming that inherent powers cannot be exercised over cases pending in other states.

ORDER

The criminal miscellaneous case is filed to quash Annexure-A1 notice issued by the Court of the Judicial Magistrate-11, Calcutta.

2. The petitioner has stated in the Crl.M.C that he is the resident of Malappuram. He had certain financial transactions with the 3^rd respondent for purchasing a vehicle. However, the vehicle was forcefully taken away by the 3^rd respondent which led to the registration of Crime No.340/2020 by the Manjeri Police Station at the instance of the petitioner. Nonetheless, the has not been traced out. Aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the Investigating Officer, the petitioner had filed W.P. (C) No.7702/2021. By Annexure-A2 judgment, this Court directed the Investigating Officer to take earnest efforts to trace out the vehicle. Now the 3^rd respondent has frivolously initiated criminal proceedings before the above Court in Calcutta, which has issued Annexure-A1 notice, directing the petitioner to appear on 26.02.2026. Annexure-A1 notice is a sheer abuse of the process of the law. Hence, this Court may quash Annexure-A1 notice.

3. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor.

4. Indisputably, Annexure-A1 notice has been issued by the Calcutta Court, which is beyond the territorial jurisdiction of this Court.

5. The question whether this Court can quash a criminal proceedings pending in a Court situated in some other State is no longer res-integra. It is well settled that this Court can exercise its inherent powers to quash a criminal proceedings only in the Courts within the State of Kerala [read the decision of this Court in G. Chellappan Pillai and others v. Chandulal Virpal Nagda [1980 Supreme (Mad) 215 and the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in K.A. Ravindranathan v. K. Ravindra Nair and other [2005 Supreme (SC) 1858)].

6. In light of the above exposition of law, I am not inclined to exercise the inherent powers of this Court to quash the Annexure A1 notice.

In the aforesaid circumstances, this Crl.M.C., is dismissed, without prejudice to the right of the petitioner to work out his remedies, in accordance with law. Sd/-

C.S.DIAS, JUDGE SCB/30.01.26.