Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record.

State as a prosecuting agency has laid this writ petition but essentially its endeavour is to invoke powers of this Court enshrined under Section 407 Cr.P.C. to transfer cases and appeals. Therefore, for explicating its afflictions, it is imperative for this Court to examine threadbare power of the Court to transfer [ 11 ] cases and appeals. For convenience, complete text of Section 407 Cr.P.C. is reproduced as infra:

(8) When the High Court orders under sub-

section (1) that a case be transferred from any Court for trial before itself, it shall observe in such trial the same procedure which that Court would have observed if the case had not been so transferred.

(9) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect any order of Government under section

197. A bare perusal of above quoted Section 407 Cr.P.C. makes it abundantly clear that the case set out by the petitioner is not covered within the four corners of clause (a) & (b) of sub-sec.(1) of Section 407. If the case of the State is examined in the light of clause

(c) of sub-sec.(1) of Section 407, then too the prayer for transferring of cases is falling short of the requirements envisaged therein. Therefore, the petitioner has essentially laid emphasis on the words "is expedient for the ends of justice" mentioned in clause (c) of sub section (1) of Section 407 Cr.P.C. The term "is expedient for the ends of justice" has different connotations depending on facts and circumstances of each case and there cannot be any straight jacket formula to define the said term. As in the instant case, State is a suitor, which has made endeavour to invoke extraordinary jurisdiction of the Court thriving on these words for the desired relief, it is very much desirable to find out the grounds set out in the petition.

There remains no quarrel that High Court can exercise power of superintendence under Article 227 of the Constitution over all Courts and Tribunals subordinates to it and in appropriate cases may exercise administrative power to transfer cases from one district to another to meet administrative exigency. However, in the present case, the endeavour of the State is to seek judicial intervention of the Court for seeking transfer of cases from one district to another and for which undeniably necessary compliance with all the procedural formalities envisaged under Section 407 Cr.P.C. is pre-requisite besides providing adequate opportunities to the parties of a proper hearing. Therefore, the ratio decidendi of the verdict cannot [ 18 ] render any assistance to the cause of the petitioner, rather the verdict mandates that judicial order of transferring case from one district to another is not permissible dehors the provisions of Section 407 Cr.P.C.