STATE OF WEST BENGAL Vs. HEMANT KUMAR BHATTACHARJEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave preferred by the State of West Bengal against the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta dated May 9, 1958 in Criminal Revision Case No. 1128 of 1957

(2.) The three respondents are alleged to have committed the offences with which they are charged in September 1050 and though 12 years have passed by since then no step has been taken beyond the issue of notices to them. This delay has been caused by conflicting views which have been entertained from time to time about the Court having jurisdiction to try the respondents-whether it is the Court of the Chief Presidency Magistrate, Calcutta, or the Judge of the Special Court constituted under the West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts). Act, 1949. The judgment of the High Court now under appeal has held that the judge of the Special Court had no jurisdiction to proceed with the trial but that the Chief Presidency Magistrate before whom a charge-sheet in respect of the offences alleged against the respondents had been laid in January 1951 had alone jurisdiction to try the case. The State which has come up in appeal against this order contends that on a construction of the relevant statutes and other matters to which we shall refer, it was the Special Judge who had the jurisdiction to try the case.

(3.) To appreciate the contentions raised in the appeal it would be necessary to state at least in broad outline the several stages of this proceeding.