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(D) After 20 days of the disposal of the said Crl. Misc. No.152-MA of 2007, i.e., appeal against acquittal, the High Court again took up the case suo motu on 30.5.2007 and directed the authorities to furnish full details of the proclaimed offenders in respect of the FIR No.334/91 dated 29.8.1991 and the Bench marked the matter "Part Heard".

(E) Shri Dinesh Bhatt, SSP, Chandigarh submitted an affidavit dated 4.8.2007, giving information regarding all the proclaimed offenders in that case. One of them was Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who had initially been declared as a proclaimed offender in the said case on 2.3.1993. However, he had subsequently been arrested in a case relating to FIR No.316 of 1993, Police Station, Parliament Street, Delhi and FIR No.150 of 1993, Police Station, Srinivas Puri, New Delhi and had been sentenced to death in a case in which an assassination attempt was made on the life of Shri M.S. Bitta, the then President, All India Youth Congress, in which several persons were killed and Shri Bitta's legs were amputated. It was also mentioned therein that Balwant Singh Multani escaped from police custody and his whereabouts were not known. One proclaimed offender, Navneet Singh had been killed in a police encounter in Rajasthan on 26.2.1995.

The proceedings dated 10.7.2007, 25.7.2007, 31.7.2007, 6.8.2007 and 9.8.2007 show that the case has been adjourned for short dates. The order dated 5.9.2007 shows that the Bench headed by Mr. Justice X was furnished with full information regarding proclaimed offenders by the authorities. However, the case was adjourned for 19.9.2007. The order dated 19.9.2007 reveals that the Bench not only entertained the application filed by Darshan Singh Multani, IAS (Retd.), but also expressed its anguish that nothing could be done since the year 1993 by the Chandigarh Police to procure the presence of the proclaimed offenders. The Police by filing the replies had adopted the delaying tactics only to derail the process of the court without bringing the proclaimed offenders to justice. The application filed by the U.T., Chandigarh to file a reply to the application filed by Darshan Singh Multani was rejected. The CBI was further directed to investigate the case properly, as no worthwhile steps were being taken by the Chandigarh Police.

54. Admittedly, the application for Leave to Appeal stood disposed of vide judgment and order dated 11.5.2007. The matter suddenly appeared before the Bench on 30.5.2007 and the Court directed the Police to furnish information regarding the proclaimed offenders and a detailed report as to the measures taken to procure the presence of the said proclaimed offenders, namely, Navneet Singh, Manjit Singh, Manmohan Singh, Gurjant Singh and Balwant Singh so that they may face trial. However, after hearing the matter on few dates, the Court vide order dated 5.10.2007 closed the chapter of proclaimed offenders observing as under:

"Since the police of U.T. Chandigarh has now woken up, that the proclaimed offenders have to be brought to justice and are making efforts to procure their presence, we feel that there is no need for the Special Investigation Team (S.I.T.) The Inspector General of Police, Union Territory, Chandigarh had been directed by this Court vide order dated 5.9.2007 to set up a Special Investigation Team (S.I.T.) for this purpose. At this stage, now, there is no need for this Special Investigation Team. The Inspector General of Police, UT, Chandigarh is directed to disband the Special Investigation Team and proceed as per law in the normal course to procure the presence of the proclaimed offenders, who are allegedly in foreign countries." (Emphasis added) Therefore, it is evident that the court was very much anxious to know about the proclaimed offenders, however, after getting certain information, the Court stopped monitoring the progress in procuring the presence of any of those proclaimed offenders. By this time, the Court also came to know that applicant Darshan Singh Multani's son had also been killed. Therefore, the chapter regarding the proclaimed offenders was closed. There was no occasion for the Court to proceed further with the matter and entertain the applications under Section 482 Cr.P.C., filed by Darshan Singh Multani and Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar. At this stage, the Court started probing regarding missing persons. The question does arise as to whether applications under Section 482 Cr.P.C. could be entertained in a disposed of appeal or could be heard by a Bench to which the roster has not been assigned by Hon'ble the Chief Justice.