ORDER :

B.N. Agarwal, J.

One of the questions which has been posed in this writ petition is as to whether, upon receipt of information by an officer in charge of the police station disclosing cognizable offence, it is imperative for him/her to register a case under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, or a discretion lies with him/her to make some sort of preliminary enquiry before registering the same.

2. In support of his submission, Mr S.B. Upadhyay, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, has placed reliance upon two-Judge Bench decisions of this Court in State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335 , Ramesh Kumari v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2006) 2 SCC 677 and Parkash Singh Badal v. State of Punjab, (2007) 1 SCC 1 .

3. Mr Shekhar Naphade, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the State of Maharashtra, on the other hand, submitted that an officer in charge of the police station is not obliged under law, upon receipt of information disclosing cognizable offence, to register a case but a discretion lies with him/her in appropriate cases to hold some sort of preliminary enquiry in relation to the veracity or otherwise of the accusa