Patna High Court - Orders
Awadhesh Kumar vs The State Of Bihar Through The Director ... on 11 October, 2023
Author: Satyavrat Verma
Bench: Satyavrat Verma
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.67906 of 2023
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-434 Year-2023 Thana- LAHERIYASARAI District- Darbhanga
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1. AWADHESH KUMAR Son of Sri Dineshwar Yadav R/o vill - Jagdishpur
Chakka, P.S. - Manigachhi, Distt. - Darbhanga
2. Dhirendra Mishra Son of Late Kedar Mishra R/o vill - Bansara, P.S. -
Raiyam, Distt. - Darbhanga
3. Dharmandra Kumar Jha Son of Sri Madhu Kant Jha R/o vill - Jadupatti, P.O.
- Jadupatti, P.s. - Ghanshyampur, Distt. - Darbhanga
4. Dhiraj Kumar Jha Son of Ram Narayan Jha R/o vill - Dath, P.S. -
Ghanshyampur, Distt. - Darbhanga
5. Lalit Narayan Paswan Son of Vishnu Deo Paswan R/o vill - Kanokhar, P.S. -
Manigachhi, Distt. - Darbhanga
6. Hari Mohan Yadav Son of Mahesh Kant Yadav R/o vill - Kopi Trimuhani,
P.s. - Baheri, Distt. - Darbhanga
7. Sita Devi Wife of Shambhu Paswan R/o vill - Bahadurpur, P.S. -
Bahadurpur, Distt. - Darbhanga
8. Sujata Kumari Wife of Sri Bhuneshwar Lal Das R/o vill - Bajitpur, P.S. -
Bahadurpur, Distt. - Darbhanga
9. Kajal Devi Wife of Ful Babu Lal Dev R/o vill - Manortha, P.S. - Ashok
Paper Mill, Dist. - Darbhanga
10. Rinki Kumari Wife of Sanjay Kumar Chaupal R/o vill - Panta, P.s. - Sonki,
Distt. - Darbhanga
11. Anju Devi Wife of Vipin Sahni R/o vill - Mustafapur, P.S. - Bishanpur, Distt
- Darbhanga
12. Ranjana Kumari D/o Lal Bahadur Sah R/o vill - Korauni, P.S. - Singhwara,
Distt. - Darbhanga
13. Aruna Devi @ Aruna Kumari Wife of Vinay Kumar Jha R/o vill - Kathra,
P.S. - Manigachhi, Distt. - Darbhanga
14. Musarrat Fatma @ M. Fatma Wife of Habibullah Hashmi R/o vill - Kazi
Bahera, P.S. - Jale, Distt.- Darbhanga
15. Kulsum Begam Wife of Qamrul Rayam R/o vill - Baghras, P.S. - Kiratpur,
Distt. - Darbhanga
16. Amar Nath Sharma Son of Udneshwar Sharma R/o vill - Habi Bhauor, P.S. -
Bahera, Distt. - Darbhanga. All Petitioners are elected members of
Darbhanga Zila Parishad, Distt. - Darbhanga
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar through the Director General of Police, Bihar, Patna
Bihar
2. The Inspector General of Police, Darbhanga Range, Darbhanga Bihar
3. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Darbhanga, Distt. - Darbhanga Bihar
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023
2/8
4. The Superintendent of Police City, Darbhanga, Distt. - Darbhanga Bihar
5. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Darbhanga Sadar, Distt. - Darbhanga
Bihar
6. The Station Head Officer, Laheriasarai Police Station, Distt. - Darbhanga
Bihar
7. The Deputy Development Commissioner-cum-chief Executive Officer, Zila
Parishad, Darbhanga Distt. - Darbhanga, Bihar
8. Manoranjan Kumar Son of Sri Ambika Chaudhary R/o vill - Bhadoghat, P.O.
- Basantpur Ramni, P.S. - Waris Nagar, Distt. - Samastipur, Presently Posted
as Fisheries Extension Officer, Darbhanga, Distt. - Darbhanga
... ... Opposite Party/s
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Awnish Kumar, Adv.
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, APP
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 11-10-20231. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned APP Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad for the State.
2. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the present quashing application has been filed, seeking quashing of F.I.R., being Laheriasarai P.S. Case No.434/2023, instituted under sections 147, 149, 186, 188, 189, 341, 342, 323, 332, 353, 465, 427, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code read with section 3 of the Prevention of Damages of Public Property Act, 1984.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioners before making his submission on merit, submits that the present F.I.R. is an example of how bureaucracy tries to control the elected representative.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023 3/8
4. The learned counsel next submits that the informant alleges that he was deputed as Magistrate by the S.D.M., Sadar Darbhanga for the purposes of general meeting of Darbhanga Zila Parishad, scheduled to be held on 11.09.2023, accordingly, he was present in the meeting, further during course of meeting, some elected members of Zila Parishad, including the petitioners were creating disturbances in the peaceful conduct of the meeting, next alleges that Swatantra Kumar Jha tore government documents, kept with the Presiding Officer, and thus, caused loss to public property and when he was trying to calm the members, Amit Kumar Thakur along with other members misbehaved with him and was not allowed to discharge his functions in the capacity of Magistrate, further alleges that the petitioners along with others started protesting in front of the Presiding Officer by creating groups, and thus, violated the established norms of conduct of proceeding of Zila Parishad, it is next alleged that Swatantra Kumar Jha and Dhirendra Mishra were pressurizing the Chief Executive Officer and the Additional Chief Executive Officer of Zila Parishad to record their proposal in the proceeding book according to their will and even tried to snatch the proceeding book, further Swatantra Kumar Jha was not permitting the Chief Executive Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023 4/8 Officer to come out of the meeting hall and efforts were made to confine her, but on intervention of police, the Chief Executive Officer and other Officers of Zila Parishad came out of the meeting, further after the Chief Executive Officer left, Swatantra Kumar Jha sat on Dharna and was demanding for maintaining the proceeding book in the meeting itself, thus, the petitioners created disturbance in discharge of official duty of the Chief Executive Officer and even came in front of her vehicle, accordingly, the F.I.R. was instituted.
5. The learned counsel for the petitioners Mr. S.B.K. Mangalam submits that the Panchayat Elections were held and concluded by the end of December, 2021 in the district of Darbhanga, but despite nearly 21 months, after the election, no District Planning Committee was constituted for the Darbhanga district, as such, all local bodies in the district are preparing their plan according to their own will without any guidance under the 2006 Bihar Panchayat Raj rules.
6. It is further submitted that the Chairman of the district board is the Chairman of the District Planning Committee but the Chairman in connivance with the Chief Executive Officer of Zila Parishad did not take any interest for constituting District Planning Committee, as a result, the fund is Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023 5/8 being siphoned of despite there being no budget of the District Board for the financial year 2022-23 and 2023-24. It is next submitted that the petitioners along with other members of Zila Parishad were protesting the illegal move of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer as to how the funds are being released from Zila Parishad when there is no budget of Zila Parishad for the financial year 2022-23 and 2023-24 and also as to why in all the seven meetings conducted by Zila Parishad since 2021, the only agenda was selection of development schemes for different territorial constituencies, in absence of budget, which was objected by the petitioner no.2 by his letter dated 08.09.2023 (Annexure-4).
7. It is further submitted that the letter dated 30.08.2023 (Annexure-3) was circulated for convening a meeting of all members on 11.09.2023, not for addressing the issues raised in the letter dated 08.09.2023 but again for selecting schemes from the funds of 15th finance commission. It is submitted that after the letter dated 30.08.2023 (Annexure-3) was issued for convening the meeting, thereafter the petitioner no.2 wrote letter dated 08.09.2023 for addressing the issues of the members of the Zila Parishad but then the meeting, which was fixed for 11.09.2023 in pursuance of the letter dated Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023 6/8 30.08.2023 was not for addressing the problems being raised by the petitioner no.2 and other members of the Zila Parishad.
8. It is submitted that in the meeting dated 11.09.2023, the Chief Executive Officer had placed before the Zila Parishad a list of schemes, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer had sanctioned for different territorial constituencies, despite there being no any provision in the budget as no budget was made and also in absence of preparation of detail project report by District Panchayat Planning Committee, this amply demonstrates that how the funds of Zila Parishad was being siphoned of by the Chairman in connivance with the Chief Executive Officer. It is next submitted that even while selecting schemes, the territorial constituencies are being discriminated, as in the territorial constituency of the Chairman the value of total scheme sanctioned runs in more than crore, when compared to other territorial constituencies as detailed in para- 32 and 33 of the quashing application.
9. It is further submitted that the petitioners were protesting the conduct of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in the meeting dated 11.09.2023 and thus were persuading the Chief Executive Officer to record the proceeding of the meeting dated 11.09.2023, as the petitioners were Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023 7/8 objecting the manner in which the schemes were being selected and how they were being forced to approve the scheme, but the Chief Executive Officer was not willing to record the objection of the petitioners, which led to protest.
10. It is next submitted that the petitioners are elected members of a democratically constituted institution of a local self government and they have every right to protest against the tyrannical act of the chairman and the Chief Executive Officer.
11. It is next submitted that though an F.I.R. came to be instituted that disturbance was being created in the meeting dated 11.09.2023 but then the F.I.R. is completely silent that as to why the alleged protest or disturbance was created by the members of the Zila Parishad, the reason was obvious that in absence of budget, the schemes were selected and there was discrimination in the selection of the schemes also, further when there is no budget, definitely the amount spent cannot be controlled, which gives rise to corruption. These were the aspects, which were being protested by the petitioners herein .
12. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Zila Parishad, Darbhanga, Mr. Vivek Prasad is directed to file a counter affidavit duly sworn by the Chief Executive Officer of the Zila Parishad, Darbhanga. The counter affidavit shall give Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.67906 of 2023(2) dt.11-10-2023 8/8 para-wise reply of the pleadings made in the quashing application, further the counter affidavit shall also record the reason for the occurrence which has been alleged to have been committed by the petitioners in the F.I.R. and under what provision of law Magistrate and police personnels are deputed inside the house where meeting of Zila Parishad is held and if there is no provision then why Magistrate and police personnels are allowed to be present when meeting of Zila Parishad is convened.
13. Put up this case on 22.02.2024.
14. In the meantime, further proceeding before the trial in connection with Laheriasarai P.S. Case No.434/2023, dated 12.09.2023 registered under sections 147, 149, 186, 188, 189, 341, 342, 323, 332, 353, 465, 427, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code read with section 3 of the Prevention of Damages of Public Property Act, 1984 shall remain stayed.
(Satyavrat Verma, J) amit/-
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