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In Section 156(3) Cr.P.C., the word used is 'May' Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. is as follows;

156. Police officer's power to investigate cognizable case - (1) ....

(2) ....

(3) Any Magistrate empowered under Section 190 may order such an investigation as above-mentioned.

9. The use of the word 'Shall' in Section 154(3) Cr.P.C. and the use of word 'May' in Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. should make the intention of the legislation clear. If the legislature intended to close options for the Magistrate, they could have used the word 'Shall' as has been done in Section 154(3) Cr.P.C. Instead, use of the word 'May' is, therefore, very significant, and gives a very clear indication, that the Magistrate has the discretion in the matter, and can, in appropriate cases, refuse to order registration.

19. In a recent pronouncement, Hon'ble Mr. Justice Shiv Charan Sharma in the case of Chandrika Singh v. State of U.P. and Ors. 2007 (58) ACC 777 has held that a Magistrate can treat an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. as a complaint. The Hon'ble Judge referred to various cases in his judgment and has come to this conclusion thereafter. It was observed by Shiv Charan, J. as follows:

In view of this judgment of Full Bench, the Magistrate is fully competent to pass an order to register a case and investigate on an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C., all the application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. may be treated as complaint and in the circumstance, the Magistrate shall follow the procedure as provided in Chapter XV Cr.P.C. This judgment of Full Bench has not been set aside. Hence, in view of the Apex Court and Full Bench of this Court the Magistrate is fully competent to treat an application under Section 156 Cr.P.C as a complaint and in the present case the Magistrate passed an order in the circumstances of the case that it may be registered as a complaint case and proceed to record the statement under Sections 200 and 202 Cr.P.C. There appears no illegality and impropriety in the order of the Magistrate.
This controversy must come to an end that an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. can only be treated as an application for passing an order for registration of the case and investigation cannot be treated as a complaint case. The Magistrate is not bound in each and every case to pass an order to register a case and investigate if cognizable offence is made out The Magistrate is fully competent to use this judicial direction in the matter. This is wrong notion that if an application has been moved under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. that the only order can be passed for registration in the matter. The magistrate has got direction under Section 190 Cr.P.C. to take the cognizance directly or to pass an order that the police to investigate and then take cognizance on submissions of a report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. The Magistrate is also expected to act under some guidelines and it should not be left at the arbitrary discretion of the Magistrate to pass an order or not to pass an order to register the case and investigation under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. In Gulab Chandra Upadhyaya v. State of U.P. Hon'ble Single Judge of this Court laid down the guidelines for the guidance of Magistrate while deciding the application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. and the guidelines cannot be said against any provision of law or check on the judicial direction of the Magistrate. Even Hon'ble Apex Court also held that the Magistrate has got a direction to pass an order to register the case and investigation under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. or to treat an application as a complaint case.

20. The Full Bench decision of Ram Babu Gupta's case ' Supra' also lays down that the Magistrate can treat an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. as a complaint. This ill appear from the following observations:

Coming to the second question noted above, it is to be at once stated that a provision empowering a Court to Act in a particular manner and a provision creating a right for an aggrieved person to approach a Court or authority, must be understood distinctively and should not be mixed up. While Sections 154, 155 Sub-section (1) and (2) of 156, Cr.P.C confer right on an aggrieved person to reach the police, 156(3) empowers a Magistrate to act in a particular manner in a given situation. Therefore, it is not possible to hold that where a bare application is moved before Court only praying for exercise of powers under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C, it will remain an application only and would not be in the nature of a complaint. It has been noted above that the Magistrate has to always apply his mind on the allegations in the complaint where he may use his powers under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. In this connection, it may be immediately added that where in an application, a complainant states facts which constitute cognizable offence but makes a defective prayer, such an application will not cease to be a complaint nor can the Magistrate refuse to treat it as a complaint even though there be no prayer seeking trial of the known or unknown accused. The Magistrate has to deal with such facts as constitute cognizable offence and for all practical purposes even such an application would be a complaint. This Court can do no better than refer to the following observations in Suresh Chand Jain (Supra):