NAVINCHANDRA N MAJITHIA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) I respectfully agree with the judgment prepared by my learned brother Mohapatra, J. In view of the importance of the legal issue highlighted before us - regarding the extent of jurisdiction of a High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India - I am tempted to add a few lines of my own for a further support to the conclusion reached by my learned brother.

(2.) As the facts of the case have been succinctly narrated by Mohapatra, J., I shall set out only the main issue involved. Whether the High Court of Bombay has jurisdiction to issue a writ under Article 226 of the Constitution in respect of any step taken or to be taken pursuant to the FIR registered by the Shillong police in the State of Meghalaya. The Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellants solely on the ground of want of jurisdiction. The Division Bench has observed thus (1999 Cri LJ 3476 at P. 3478):

(3.) The Division Bench extracted the definition of High Court under Section 2(e) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short 'the Code') and stated that by the said definition the Code has clearly laid down that "every High Court has to exercise the jurisdiction under the provisions of the Code only within the territory of the State unless it is extended by any law. The High Court is defined in the Code as the High Court for that State. Learned Judges then made the following observations (1999 Cri LJ 3476 at P. 3479):