HARI SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these batch of cases comprise of writ petition, petitions under Section 482 Cr.P.C, contempt petition, transfer petition and cases which have been transferred to file from subordinate courts. They have been clubbed together for disposal by orders of Court on various dates. The dispute is between close relatives of parties in respect of a land that was purchased in the names of some parties, the transaction of which caused suspicion amongst other members of the family that there had been offences of breach of trust, cheating, forgery etc. There were complaints and counter complaints in various Courts and in an attempt to quell all litigations, there had been a direction by this Court while dealing with the petition for quashing of three FIRs filed in CRM No.22148 of 2002. Several suits had been pending seeking for declaration of title to the property in the Courts of Additional Civil Judge, Roopnagar and petition for transfer had also been filed to give direction for an adjudication in a Court far away from Chandigarh and Roopnagar District. The facts of the case are brought out from the petition for transfer filed in CRM No.213 of 2001 and in the adjudication rendered by the arbitrator appointed by the Court in CRM No.22148 of 2002.

(2.) The course of disposal in all these cases would be to set out the basic facts through the averments brought out in the transfer petition and in the award and to examine whether the award passed has finally determined the rights of parties, since one party contends that the award has finally determined the rights of parties and the rival party contends that the arbitration award has not been executed and therefore, become infructuous. There had been at some point of time, a stay of further proceedings when an arbitrator was appointed to await its decision but in view of the fact that arbitration award has also been filed, it was contended that all the cases must revive and should be undertaken for final disposals. If the arbitration award completely determines the rights of parties, the extent to which the award itself concludes the course of proceedings in the criminal cases and the several cases filed for quashing the complaints would dictate the terms of disposal. On the other hand, if the award is not valid or has not been given effect to, the subsequent question would be whether the parties have determined the rights in any other manner by any subsequent arrangement that offers no scope for continuation of proceedings by one against the other.

(3.) The petitions under Section 482 CrPC themselves have been filed under various categories. Some of them are for commencement of trial and for conclusion of proceedings, some of them for registration of complaints and for undertaking investigation, some of them are for quashing the FIRs already registered, some for directions to be issued to the Courts or to authorities for giving effect to certain orders and some of them are for modifying orders already passed. The contempt petitions which have been filed are for taking punitive action against persons, who are said to have breached the Courts' orders. There is also an application for grant of bail, which has been transferred to this Court. A writ petition has been filed for quashing the order passed by a Passport Authority allowing for issuance of a passport. The details of the respective cases would be set out at the time of adjudication after coming to an initial finding of enforceability or otherwise of the Award passed.