Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

(v) A Court within whose local jurisdiction any part of the property which is the subject of the offence was required to be accounted for by the accused person.

hcs cri.app.628.2021.doc

26. Thus various Courts contemplated under section 181(4) of Cr.P.C. 1973 will have jurisdiction to inquire into or try offence of criminal misappropriation or criminal breach of trust. Courts within whose local jurisdiction (i) offence was committed or (ii) any part of the property which is the subject of the offence was received by the accused or (iii) any part of the property which is the subject of the offence was retained by the accused or (iv) any part of the property which is subject of the offence was required to be returned by the accused or (v) any part of the property which is subject of the offence was required to be accounted for by the accused; all these Courts will have jurisdiction to try said offences. It is very clear that conferring jurisdiction on Court of local jurisdiction where any part of the property which is subject of the offence was required to be returned or accounted for by the accused person as provided in section 181(4) of Cr.P.C., 1973 is not provided in section 181(2) of Cr.P.C., 1898 and the said change is significant addition as far as aspect of jurisdiction is concerned. It is very significant to note that the said change is made from the point of view of victims of the offences.

29. At this stage it is required to be noted that the said Full Bench judgment in re Jivandas Savchand on which Mr.Niteen Pradhan, the learned Counsel has very heavily relied is concerning interpretation of section 181(2) of Cr.P.C, 1898. The equivalent provision of said section of Cr.P.C., 1973 is section 181(4), however, as noticed above there are certain changes particularly very significant additions made in section 181(4) of Cr.P.C., 1973 as compared to section 181(2) of Cr.P.C. 1898. We have already highlighted the said changes hereinabove.

Thereafter Cr.P.C. 1973 was enacted with many significant changes in Cr.P.C. 1898 and the Cr.P.C. 1898 was repealed. The aforesaid proposed section 181(2) of Cr.P.C. 1898 as suggested by the Law Commission of India was incorporated as section 181(4) of the Cr.P.C. 1973.

34. Thus, it is clear that although Mr.Niteen Pradhan, the learned Counsel appearing for the Applicant has very strongly relied on the Full Bench judgment of this Court in re Jivandas Savchand (supra), it is very clear that the provision on the basis of which Full Bench judgment was delivered is substantially amended and now the section which is in operation is section 181(4) of Cr.P.C., 1973 which is substantially different from earlier equivalent provision namely section 181(2) of Cr.P.C., 1898. Therefore, the said Full Bench judgment cannot be applied to the amended provision as reflected in section 181(4) of Cr.P.C., 1973.

(Emphasis Supplied)

43. Thus, the various judgments on which the learned Advocate General is relying also supports our view that the provision now applicable has been substantially amended being section 181(4) of Cr.P.C., 1973 than earlier section 181(2) of Cr.P.C., 1898 and, therefore, said Full Bench judgment in re Jivandas Savchand (supra) has no application.

44. It is very important to note that the Court within whose local jurisdiction any part of the property which is subject of offence of criminal misappropriation or of criminal breach of trust is required to be returned or accounted for has also got jurisdiction to deal with such criminal case as per section 181(4) of Cr.P.C., 1973. In this case the monies of the share holders and the depositors of NDCCB were inter alia transferred from Nagpur to Mumbai account of said NDCCB in Maharashtra State Central Co-operative Bank, Fort Branch at Mumbai and, therefore, it is very clear that the said hcs cri.app.628.2021.doc monies ultimately are required to be returned to or accounted to the share holders and the depositors of NDCCB at Nagpur and, therefore, the said Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nagpur has jurisdiction to deal with said C.C. No.147 of 2002.