Seeva Femi and 6 Others v. State of U.P. and Another
Case brief
What is this about?
Applicants challenged the order of magistrates and revisional court in a commercial dispute between parties involving construction work and pending arbitration. The High Court held that courts conducting a mini trial under Sections 203/204 CrPC were wrong, but clarified that the revisional court's observations would bind the magistrates.
What the court decided
Judgement reserved on 17.11.2022 Judgment delivered on 01.12.2022
Court No. - 84
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 9441 of 2020
Applicant :- Seeva Femi And 6 Others Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Sanjay Kumar Mishra,Kartikeya Saran Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Avanish Kumar Srivastava,Nirendra Mohan,Prateek Srivastava,Shashank Dwivedi,Syed Safdar Ali Kazmi
Hon'ble Saurabh Shyam Shamshery,J.
- The facts of present case in brief are that complainant/opposite party No.2 filed an application under Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C. on 15.07.2016 with a prayer to lodge an F.I.R. against applicants. In pursuance of an order of learned Magistrate, an F.I.R. was lodged against applicants on 27.12.2016 under Sections 406, 427, 467, 468, 420, 506 I.P.C. alleging that the complainant was the sole proprietor of M/s Akash Engineers Contractors which was awarded a work of construction at Gaur City, Sector-4, Greater NOIDA by Gaur Sons Hi Tech Infrastructure Private Limited for an amount of Rs. 22,00,00,000/- (Rs. Twenty Two Crores only). It was alleged that complainant has discharged his part of contract of construction, however, payment was not made and even he was not allowed to pick up his material from the site which was more than of Rs. 61 lakhs and thereafter he came to know that material has already been misappropriated.
- The investigation was conducted in pursuance of above referred F.I.R., however, a final report was submitted on
23.06.2017 that no case was made out against applicants as it was a dispute of commercial in nature and parties have relegated themselves before arbitration proceedings.
Issues for consideration
3 issues framed by the court
Whether criminal proceedings can be quashed or summary trial of a civil dispute can be conducted by courts under Sections 203 and 204 Cr.P.C. when parties have relegated themselves to arbitration.
Whether the Revisional Court erred in conducting a mini trial to determine if there were sufficient grounds to proceed against applicants in a complaint that was later remanded.
Whether observations made in the order of the Revisional Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. bind the Magistrate when deciding on further inquiry or issuance of process.
Parties & counsel
- applicant
Seeva Femi And 6 Others
Coram
Saurabh Shyam Shamshery
Case details
As recorded by the court registry
- Court
- Allahabad HC
- Decided on
- · December
- Registered
- Case no.
- A482/9441/2020
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