Special Judge has completely misconstrued the Judgment of this Court in the case of Farman Shah ( supra ). The said Judgment itself shows that the Division Bench of this Court had considered the material against the accused on merits while deciding whether the accused should be discharged from the offences under the MCOC Act. In that context, the Division Bench also observed that insofar as the attack on the approval or sanction was concerned, it could only be taken to its logical end during trial and not at the discharge stage. By no stretch of imagination, this Judgment rules that at the time of deciding the discharge application, the merits of the case cannot be taken into consideration and only limited scope available to the accused is to challenge the application of MCOC Act on the competency of according sanction or approval. The Judgment itself demonstrates that the entire material has to be considered to arrive at a prima facie finding that the offence under the MCOC Act is made out. Section 2(1)(d), 2(1)(e) and 2(1)(f) define continuing unlawful activity, organised crime and organised crime syndicate respectively. Even at the stage of framing of the charge, the Court is obliged to consider the entire material for recording its satisfaction that there was sufficient material to frame charges under the provisions of the MCOC Act.
