{"id":96852,"date":"1995-02-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1995-02-23T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/union-of-india-and-anr-vs-ashok-kumar-mitra-on-24-february-1995"},"modified":"2015-09-26T15:48:45","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T10:18:45","slug":"union-of-india-and-anr-vs-ashok-kumar-mitra-on-24-february-1995","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/union-of-india-and-anr-vs-ashok-kumar-mitra-on-24-february-1995","title":{"rendered":"Union Of India And Anr vs Ashok Kumar Mitra on 24 February, 1995"},"content":{"rendered":"
Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n
Union Of India And Anr vs Ashok Kumar Mitra on 24 February, 1995<\/div>\n
Bench: Dr. A.S. Anand, M.K. Mukherjee<\/div>\n
           CASE NO.:\nAppeal (crl.)  311-12 of 1995\n\nPETITIONER:\nUNION OF INDIA AND ANR.\n\nRESPONDENT:\nASHOK KUMAR MITRA\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT: 24\/02\/1995\n\nBENCH:\nDR. A.S. ANAND & M.K. MUKHERJEE\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n
JUDGMENT<\/p>\n
1995 (2) SCR 369<\/p>\n
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by<\/p>\n
DR. A.S. ANAND, J. Leave granted.\n<\/p>\n
The only question that we are called upon to consider in these appeals is
\nwhether the employees of a nationalised Bank can be held to be ‘public
\nservants’ within the meaning of Section 21 of Indian Penal Code and triable
\nby Special Courts for the offences triable by these courts. The question
\narises in the following circumstances.\n<\/p>\n
The respondent was the Branch Manager of Bank of India at the relevant
\ntime. A case was registered against him and another person for offences
\nunder sections 120 B, 420, 409, 467, 468, and 477A IPC and Section 5(2}
\nread with Section 5(1) (c) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
\nAfter completion of investigation by the CBI, charge-sheet was filed in the
\nCourt of the Special Judge at Alipur, Calcutta on 4.12.85. Cognizance was
\ntaken but before charges were framed, the respondent moved a petition for
\nhis discharge before the Special Judge stating that he is not a ‘public
\nservant’ and therefore cannot be tried by the Special Court. The learned
\nSpecial judge by his order dated 28.6.91 rejected the application. The
\nrespondent thereupon filed a criminal revision in the Calcutta High Court
\nseeking quashing of the prosecution launched against him on the ground (a)
\ndelay in the disposal of the case and (b) that not being a ‘public
\nservant’, he could not be tried by a Special Court.\n<\/p>\n
The High Court rejected the first ground observing that the respondent
\nhimself had ‘handsomely contributed’ to whatever delay had so far been
\noccasioned and, therefore, the proceedings could not be quashed on the
\nground of delay, which was not attributable solely to the prosecution. So
\nfar as the second ground is concerned, the High Court agreed with the
\nsubmission made on behalf of the respondent and held that the respondent
\ncould not be deemed to be a ‘public servant’ within the meaning of Section
\n21 of IPC and as such could not be fried by the Special Court. The High
\nCourt relied upon the judgment in Oriental Bank of Commerce and Ors. v.
\nDelhi Development Authority, reported in 1982 Crl. Law Journal 2230 in
\nsupport of its finding. The prosecution was accordingly quashed. The Union
\nof India is aggrieved and has come up in appeal by special leave.\n<\/p>\n
It is submitted that since the judgment rendered by the Delhi High Court in
\nOriental Bank of Commerce case (supra) has been over-ruled by this Court
\ntherefore the judgment under appeal cannot be sustained. It is urged that a
\nnationalised bank is a ‘Corporation’ and not a ‘body corporate’ as held in
\nOriental Bank’s case (supra) and therefore, the respondent would be
\nsquarely covered by the definition of a ‘public servant’ as per section 21
\nTwelfth (b) of IPC.\n<\/p>\n
In R.C. Cooper v. Union of India, [1970] 1 SCC 248 this Court with
\nreference to the nationalised bank constituted under the provisions of the
\nBanking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Ordinance,
\n1969, hold that the nationalised banks are ‘Corporations’.\n<\/p>\n
The controversy, whether a nationalised bank is only a body corporate or is
\na corporation is no longer res-integra. On account of the nationalisation,
\nthe nationalised banks are not only established by a Central Act but are
\nalso owned and controlled by the Central Government.\n<\/p>\n
A Constitution Bench of this Court in Ashoka Marketing Ltd, and Anr. v.
\nPunjab National Bank and Ors. Etc.,<\/a> [1990] 4 SCC 406 specifically
\nconsidered the question whether a nationalised bank is a ‘corporation’ or
\na’ body corporate’ and hold :\n<\/p>\n
“Keeping in view the provisions of the Banks Nationalisation Act we are of
\nthe opinion that the nationalised bank is a corporation established by a
\nCentral Act and it is owned and controlled by the Central Government,”
\n(Emphasis ours)<\/p>\n
The Constitution Bench expressly over-ruled the judgment of the Delhi High
\nCourt in the Oriental Bank of Commerce case (supra) and held that the
\ndistinction drawn in that judgment between a ‘body corporate’ and a
\n‘corporation’ in relation a nationalised bank is erroneous and that the
\nview that a nationalised bank is not a corporation could not be sustained.
\nThus, it now rests settled that a nationalised bank is a corporation which
\nis established by a Central Act and is owned and controlled by the Central
\nGovernment. Are the employees of Corporations which are owned and
\ncontrolled by the Central Government and are established by a Central Act,
\n‘Public Servants’?\n<\/p>\n
In State through CBI v. Of. Dogra & Ors., AIR (1986) SC 312 while setting
\naside the judgment of the High Court of J & K, which had held that the
\nemployees of an Insurance Company were not ‘public servants’ within the
\nmeaning of Section 21 RPC (corresponding to Section 21 IPC), this Court
\nopined :\n<\/p>\n
“So far as the Life Insurance Corporation is concerned, there can be no
\nsecond view that the employees of the corporation come within the
\ndefinition of the term ‘public servant’ as given under Section 21 of RPC.
\nSo far as the other respondents are concerned, admittedly Jupiter Insurance
\nCo, has been merged with the Oriental Fire and General Insurance Co. after
\nnationalisation and the latter is now a part of the corporation, namely,
\nGeneral Insurance Corporation of India, By such process, the respondents
\nDogra and his associates are in the same position as Anand. Mr. Kapil
\nSibal, learned council appearing for Dogra and his associates has stated
\nbefore us that the finding of the High Court on this score is not tenable
\nand the respondents must be held to be public servants.”\n<\/p>\n
Section 21 IPC provides :\n<\/p>\n
“21. ‘Public Servant”- The words “public servant” denote a person falling
\nunder any of the descriptions hereinafter following, namely:\n<\/p>\n
Twelfth-Every person-\n<\/p>\n
(a)  in the service or pay of the Government or remunerated by fees or
\ncommission for the performance of any public duty by the Government;\n<\/p>\n
(b) in the service or pay of a local authority, a corporation established
\nby or under a Central, Provincial or State Act or a Government company as
\ndefined in Section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956.”\n<\/p>\n
On a plain reading of the above provision, it follows that the view of the
\nCalcutta High Court in the impugned judgment holding that the Branch
\nManager of Bank of India is not a ‘public servant’ under Section 21 of IPC
\nis erroneous and cannot be sustained.\n<\/p>\n
Dr. Ghosh appearing for the respondents, however, stated that right to
\nspeady trial having been held by this Court to be a fundamental right, the
\nprosecution in this case in which charge-sheet was filed almost ten years
\nago in 1985, should be quashed OB account of the inordinate delay in
\ncompleting the same. In the fact situation of this case, the argument does
\nnot appeal to us. The High Court itself, after considering the facts of the
\ncase, came to the conclusion that the delay was not attributable only to
\nthe prosecution and that the respondent had himself ‘handsomely
\ncontributed’ to the delay. We agree with the above finding of the High
\nCourt which is based on facts and hold that on the ground of delay, not
\nattributable only to the prosecution, the respondent cannot challenge his
\nprosecution for various offences for which he was standing trial before the
\nSpecial Court. The respondent, having himself contributed to the delay in
\nthe disposal of the trial, in no small measure, cannot be permitted to take
\nadvantage of his own wrong and take shelter under ‘speady trial’ to escape
\nfrom prosecution.\n<\/p>\n
As a result of the above discussion these appeals succeed and are allowed.
\nThe impugned judgment of the High Court is set aside. The trial court shall
\nproceed with the case and conclude it expeditiously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supreme Court of India Union Of India And Anr vs Ashok Kumar Mitra on 24 February, 1995 Bench: Dr. A.S. Anand, M.K. Mukherjee CASE NO.: Appeal (crl.) 311-12 of 1995 PETITIONER: UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. RESPONDENT: ASHOK KUMAR MITRA DATE OF JUDGMENT: 24\/02\/1995 BENCH: DR. A.S. ANAND & M.K. MUKHERJEE JUDGMENT: JUDGMENT 1995 (2) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"\nUnion Of India And Anr vs Ashok Kumar Mitra on 24 February, 1995 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/union-of-india-and-anr-vs-ashok-kumar-mitra-on-24-february-1995\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Union Of India And Anr vs Ashok Kumar Mitra on 24 February, 1995 - 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