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39. One important reason which persuaded us to take the view that the Special Court cannot have original jurisdiction and take direct cognizance of the offence without an order of committal is that the Parliament wherever it felt necessary incorporated specific provisions in various enactments viz., Section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Section 12-AA of the Essential Commodities Act and Section 36-A of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Why it has been omitted in the present Act, we cannot speculate. But there seems to be lacuna and it is for the Legislature to take care of the same.

45. Lastly, before concluding our discussion on this aspect, we may refer to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Jagadish Prasad Gupta v. State of Rajasthan and Ors., 1995 Suppl. (3) SCC 386 which was relied upon by Hanumanthu, J. in his order of reference. There the question arose whether the transfer of the case from the Court of Judicial Magistrate for CBI cases to the Special Court constituted under the Essential Commodities Act is proper. The accused was charged under Section 406, IPC and for some other offences under the Essential Commodities Act. Sub-section (2) of Section 12-AA enables the Special Court to try the offence other than the offence under the Essential Commodities Act with which the accused was charged at the same trial subject to the proviso that such offence is triable in a summary way. As the offence under Section 406, IPC cannot be tried summarily in view of Section 260 of Cr.P.C., the Supreme Court held that the Addl. Sessions Judge presiding over the Special Court cannot get jurisdiction by a mere transfer of the case by the High Court. Their Lordships of the Supreme Court further observed that the Court of Session acting as Special Court cannot take cognizance of an offence as a Court of original jurisdiction unless the case has been committed to it by a Magistrate under the Code. With great respect, we are unable to follow this decision for the reason that clause (e) of Sub-section (1) of Section 12-AA was not brought to the notice of their Lordships. Their Lordships only noticed Sub-section (2) of Section 12-AA. Nevertheless, in view of the discussion made above, our conclusion is that the Special Court cannot take cognizance without committal by the Magistrate in view of the bar created by Section 193, Cr.P.C. and, in the absence of a specific provision to the contrary in the Act.