GNANASIGAMANI NADAR Vs. VEDAMUTHU NADAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, an accused in R.C. No. 13 of 1926 on the file of the Court of the Stationary Sub-Magistrate , Nanguneri, moves this Court to stay that inquiry in exercise of its power of superintendence under Section 167 of the Government or India Act, 1915. A criminal complaint has been filed against him for forgery with the permission of the Registrar. A fortnight later he filed a civil suit raising the issue of genuineness of the same document. His plea is for stay of the criminal inquiry pending his civil suit.

(2.) These pleas are so frequently argued before this Court on first principles that it is advisable to consider what these principles are.

(3.) The main principle is that this Court in the exercise of its function of superintendence should not retard the legal work of the Subordinate Courts. The necessity for dispatch is clearly laid down in Hem Chandra Ray V/s. Atal Behari Ray (1908) ILR 35 C. 909 (914).