HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH

AT JAMMU

CRMC No. 36/2019

CrlM No. 157/2019[01/2019]

Ajaz Ahmed

….Petitioner(s)

Through:-

Mr. S. C. Sharma, Advocate

V/s

Harbhajan Singh

….Respondent(s)

Through :-

None.

Coram:

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAHUL BHARTI, JUDGE

ORDER

28.11.2022

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the record of the

court below.

Through this petition, the petitioner, who at the relevant point of time,

was Patwari, Tehsil Marheen is questioning the legality and validity of a

criminal complaint filed against him by the respondent for the alleged

commission of offences under section 166 read with 167 of the Ranbir Penal

Code.

The Court of Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class, Hiranagar, in terms of an

order dated 29.10.2018, came to take cognizance of the offence under section

166 of the Ranbir Penal Code and issued process against the petitioner. The

petitioner, being aggrieved of the course of action emanating from the filing of

the complaint to the cognizance taken by the Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class,

Hiranagar, is seeking quashment of the order dated 29.10.2018.

Sr.No.29

2 CRMC No. 36/2019

Perusal of section 166 of the Ranbir Penal Code is relevant and

reproduced as under:-

“166. Public servant disobeying law with intent to cause

injury to any person

Whoever, being a public servant, knowingly disobeys any

direction of the law as to the way in which he is to conduct

himself as such public servant, intending to cause, or

knowing it to be likely that he will, by such disobedience

cause injury to any person, shall be punished with simple

imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or

with fine, or with both.”

The complaint proceeds on the premise that the petitioner as being

patwari did not issue the requisite revenue records for enabling the respondent to

effect sale of his property which was vested in him in terms of Government

Order dated 254-C of 1965. The respondent as being the complainant has

referred to the fact that he had approached the superior revenue officers of the

petitioner, who in turn, had passed the requisite instructions to the petitioner.

There is not even a single line averment in the complaint that there was any such

order of the superior revenue official from the end of the Deputy Commissioner

Kathua, Assistant Commissioner, Kathua, Tehsildar Marheen and Naib

Tehsildar, Marheen whereby it can be claimed that the petitioner was asked by

the senior revenue official to issue the requisite revenue record for enabling the

respondent-complainant to effect sale of land governed by the provisions of said

Government order no. 254-C of 1965.

Even if for the sake of arguments it is to be assumed that there is any

such averment in the complaint that there was an order of the superior revenue

official, even then it did not lie at the end of the respondent-complainant to file

the criminal complaint against the petitioner without first seeking the

intervention of the superior revenue officials with respect to the alleged act of

omission and commission on the part of the petitioner. The Judicial Magistrate

3 CRMC No. 36/2019

1^st Class, Hiranagar fell in manifest error of law in taking cognizance of the

present complaint without any basis being made therein for commission of

offence under section 166 RPC against the petitioner.

As such, this petition has merit and is, therefore, allowed. The

complaint on the record of file no. 04-A/JMIC/COM titled Harbhjan Singh vs.

Ajaz Ahmed Patwari is hereby quashed.

Di