NASIR AHAMMED Vs. NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question involved in this Criminal Appeal (unnumbered) is whether an appeal under S. 21 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the 'NIA Act') can be validly filed before the High Court after the expiry of the period of ninety days from the date of judgment, sentence or order appealed from and whether the High Court can condone the delay in filing the appeal under S. 5 of the Limitation Act. The Special Court for Trial of N.I.A. Cases, Kerala, Ernakulam dismissed the application filed by the appellant under S. 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to discharge the accused. The order was passed by the Court on 9.5.2014. The appellant received the copy of the order on 14.5.2014. The period of thirty days expired on 13.6.2014 and the period of ninety days expired on 12.8.2014. The appellant filed a Criminal Revision Petition on 7.10.2014 challenging the order of the court below. That Revision was dismissed as withdrawn on 17.11.2014 with liberty to file a Criminal Appeal against the order impugned. Thereafter, the appellant filed the Criminal Appeal on 25.11.2014. The appellant filed an application to condone the delay of 164 days in filing the appeal. The learned State Prosecutor for National Investigation Agency ('NIA' for short) submitted that the application to condone the delay is not maintainable and that the Court has no power to condone the delay and the appellant cannot invoke S. 5 of the Limitation Act.

(2.) The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that in spite of the second proviso to sub-section (5) of S. 21 of the N.I.A. Act, the power under S. 5 of the Limitation Act to condone delay is not excluded.

(3.) To comprehend the contentions put forward by either side, it is apposite to extract S. 21 of the N.I.A. Act: