Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court recently expressed its surprise over the Madhya Pradesh High Court's order which directed the Investigating Officer to give an opportunity to the accused to explain the materials collected against him before filing the charge sheet, saying such an approach is very strange and contrary to law.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal set aside the High Court's order of April 12, 2023 and restored the application filed under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The appellant had sought a direction for quashing the FIR. The high court had rejected the said petition without going into the merits of the case made out by the appellant, the top court opined. 

"Strangely, the High Court has observed that the Investigating Officer will give opportunity to the appellant to explain the material collected against him during the investigation before submission of the final report under Section 173 of CrPC. To say the least, such approach is very strange and contrary to law," the bench said.

While setting aside the high court's order, the bench directed the Registrar (Judicial) of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to list the restored petition before the roster Bench on December 8, 2023 in the morning.

The parties should appear before the roster Bench on that day, it said.

To enable the high court to consider the case on merits, the bench extended the interim relief granted by the top court on August 18, 2023 till January 8, 2024 with a liberty to the appellant to apply to the high court for continuation of interim relief in the event the remanded case is not decided till then. 

"The High Court will decide the case of the petitioner on merits without being influenced by the interim relief granted by this court. All contentions are left open, to be considered by the High Court," the bench said.

The appellant had filed a plea before the high court for quashment of the FIR registered at Police Station Karera, District Shivpuri in 2022. The high court had noted serious allegations of financial indiscipline and misappropriation of Rs 3,82,79,236 against the appellant serving as Assistant Society Manager of the concerned Society along with others at the relevant point of time. It appeared that there was 13 members in-house enquiry whereunder serious allegations of misappropriation have been found proved.

"Since an FIR is registered and investigation is in progress. Petitioner shall be given due opportunity by the Investigation Officer to explain the material collected against him before submission of final report. At this stage, it is difficult to countenance the prayer of the petitioner that no case is made out against him warranting quashment of the FIR regard being had to the serious nature of allegation of financial indiscipline and defalcation of public funds meant for farmers as alleged in the FIR," a division bench of the high court had said.

Case Title: Shiv Kumar Sharma Vs The State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr.