KAVITA JAGATRAMKA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners pray for a Mandamus against the respondent nos. 2 to 6 being the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and its Directors in relation to an ongoing investigation and seek compliance of Sec. 217 and 220 of The Companies Act, 2013. The petitioners have filed two applications being CAN 1 of 2022 and CAN 2 of 2023 for a direction on the respondents to file a Report of the investigation and for preservation of CCTV recordings made during the interrogation in the course of the investigation.

(2.) The order dtd. 17/5/2023 records that the judgment will decide on the maintainability of the writ petition and the two applications filed by the petitioners.

(3.) On the point of maintainability, learned counsel appearing for the respondent nos. 1 to 6 (SFIO) submits that the petitioners filed a writ petition before the Gujarat High Court for the same relief and that the Single Bench as well as by the Division Bench rejected the case made out by the petitioners. Counsel submits that the present writ petition is barred by the doctrine of constructive res judicata. Counsel places the judgment of the Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court to urge that all the points urged by the petitioners in the present writ petition have attained finality and hence this Court ceases to have jurisdiction to hear the present writ petition on the same cause of action.