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SCR.A/524/2010 3/ 4 ORDER
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL
CRIMINAL APPLICATION No. 524 of 2010
=========================================
DEVENDRAPRASAD
BHAGWANJI PANDYA
Versus
STATE
OF GUJARAT & ANR
=========================================
Appearance :
MR
RUSHABH R SHAH for Applicant
MR KL PANDYA APP for Respondent No.
1
MS AVANI S MEHTA for Respondent No.
2
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CORAM
:
HONOURABLE
MS.JUSTICE H.N.DEVANI
Date
: 13/05/2010
ORAL
ORDER
1 On
28th April, 2010 this Court has passed an order in the
following terms:
Leave
to join Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank Limited as party and
the copy of the petition be given to learned advocate appearing for
the bank.
Heard
learned advocates for the parties.
The
petitioner, one of the accused in the criminal cases enlisted in
paragraph 8 of this petition, has prayed for expeditious disposal of
the cases pending in the court of learned Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate, Ahmedabad with a prayer to call for the status report of
the above pending cases.
On
perusal of paragraph 8 and the cases mentioned therein, all the cases
are prior to 2006 and, therefore, learned Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate, Ahmedabad is directed to submit the status report with
regard to the pending cases and the time likely to be consumed for
completion of the aforesaid cases pending against the petitioner and
other co-accused so as to reach this Court on or before 12th
May, 2010.
Registry
may also send the copy of the petition for perusal of learned Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate, Ahmedabad so that list of cases pending
against the petitioner as referred in paragraph 8 can be taken care
of. S.O.to 12th May, 2010.
2 In
compliance with the direction issued by this court, the learned
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Ahmedabad, has submitted a report
dated 11th May, 2010. In the said report, it has inter
alia been stated as follows:
It
is further submitted that accused Mr. Devendra Bhagwanji Pandya has
given an application to Hon’ble C.M.M. to amalgamate all the cases
in one court as a result matters cannot be proceeded further for
framing charge in remaining cases. Discharge application of
Accused No. 3 & 4 is also pending for hearing but as the
accused are praying for the adjournment and non-availability of the
APP the matter could not be proceeded further. After retirement of
regular APP of this court since last One and Half Year there is no
regular APP is allotted to this court. There is one APP conducting
cases of two courts, matter could not be proceeded further.
3 Mr.
P.M. Thakkar, learned Senior Advocate with Mr. R.R. Shah, learned
Advocate for the petitioner, submits that the petitioner has already
undergone about 7 years 8 months of detention in relation to the
various cases pending against him. It is urged that if the State
Government is not in a position to appoint Additional Public
Prosecutors, the petitioner should not be penalized by having to
undergo further imprisonment. That the action of the State
Government in not appointing Additional Public Prosecutors amounts
to denial of the petitioner’s right to speedy trial as envisaged
under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
4 In
the light of the report submitted by the learned Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate, Ahmedabad, this Court finds considerable force in the
submission advanced by the learned Senior Advocate. In the
circumstances, issue Notice to the Secretary, Home Department,
State of Gujarat, returnable on 16 th June,
2010, as to why the criminal proceedings pending against the
petitioner should not be quashed as on account of non-appointment
of regular Additional Public Prosecutors, the petitioner’s right
to speedy trial is directly affected because the concerned courts
are not in a position to proceed with the trials in absence of
Public Prosecutors.
5 Copy
of this order shall be forwarded forthwith to the Secretary, Home
Department, State of Gujarat and a copy also be supplied to Mr.
K.L. Pandya, learned APP.
(MS.
H.N.DEVANI, J.)
pnnair
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