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3. The further case of the petitioners are that the case in C.C.No.8271 of 1996 got transferred to the Special Judge, TNPID Act Cases, Chennai and it was renumbered as C.C.No.16 of 1998 without any information to the petitioners/accused and thereupon, the petitioners were regularly attending the above case before the Special Judge, TNPID Act Cases, Chennai; that Section 26 Cr.P.C. provides trial of the cases by the Special Court only if offences under special laws are included, whereas, in the above case, the respondent Police have filed the charge sheet only for the offences under IPC and Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, 1978 and not under Section 5 of TNPID Act, which is triable by the Special Court for TNPID Act in Chennai.

4. The petitioners would further submit that as per Section 9 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate alone shall try the offences and other IPC offences can be tried before the same Court, whereas, the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1997 came into force only on 7.8.1997 and the Special Court was constituted on 20.03.1998 to try the offences attracted under the TNPID Act through the notification in G.O.Ms.No.1687, Home (Courts-II) Department, dated 20.11.1997; that this Court has repeatedly and categorically held that in such cases, the cases shall be transferred to the concerned jurisdictional Courts and hence the order of taking cognizance by the Special Court for TNPID Act cases in C.C. No. 16 of 1998 without any charge u/sec. 5 of the said Act is illegal, improper and not maintainable and the said case shall be transferred to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, Chennai.

9. However, the learned Government Advocate on the Criminal side citing Sections 6, 13(1) and 13(2) of the TNPID Act, 1997 would submit that under Section 6(1) a Special Court in the cadre of a District and Sessions Judge shall be constituted by the Government with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court which has been constituted and is functioning and it is to this Court the case in hand has been transferred.

10. As per Section 6(2) of the TNPID Act, no Court other than the Special Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter to which the provisions of this Act apply and Section 6(3) contemplates that any pending case in any other Court to which the provisions of this Act apply shall stand transferred to the Special Court.

12. Now the point for consideration is whether the transfer of the said case from the Court of original jurisdiction i.e. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to that of the Special Court constituted under the TNPID Act is violative of the Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India so as to order retransfer the case to the earlier Court for the conduct of trial as it has been prayed for, on the part of the petitioner in the above Criminal Original Petition?

13. Even though as against the provisions of the general Acts such as the Cr.P.C. the provisions of the TNPID Act will definitely prevail, since it has got the overriding effect, not only being a Special Act but also very clearly and mandatorily providing for transferring cases of such nature to the jurisdiction of the Special Court constituted under the new Act as per Section 6 of the said Act, still, the test is whether those provisions of the Special Act the TNPID Act, 1997 could have anything to do with any of the Articles of the Law of the Land, the Constitution of India and the answer is certainly in the negative and therefore it is relevant to again focus the attention to Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India wherein it has been clearly spelt out that the case cannot be tried under any other law excepting the law in force at the time of commission of the act charged as an offence for such violation and therefore the arguments advanced on the part of the learned Government that as per Section 6(2) and 6(3) since the case has been transferred to the jurisdiction of the Special Court there is no impediment in conducting the trial in accordance with the procedures established by Cr.P.C. to only penalty cannot go beyond what has been contemplated by the law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged, falls to the ground since it is not only the sentence but the very conviction as well cannot be maintained and without arriving at the conviction, question of sentence cannot be arrived at all. While the Constitutional mandate is such that not only the conviction but the sentence as well cannot be arrived at and inflicted other than in accordance with the law in force at the time of commission of the offence charged, the provision of which are alleged to have been violated and therefore since being violative of Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India, no conviction or sentence could be maintained and therefore there is no point to permitting the trial to be held by the Special Court and in result the prayer of the petitioner to retransfer the case from the file of the Court of Special Judge for TNPID Act cases Chennai to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, Chennai has to be considered in the affirmative and hence the following order: