PILALAL Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WHILE agreeing with my learned brother, I may add a few words. If the enumeration of Courts given in Section 6, Criminal P.C. is exhaustive as I think it is, it necessarily follows that there is no such Court as a Court of District Magistrate. But all the same the powers, which the District Magistrate exercises, are really powers which vest in him as a First Class Magistrate supplemented with such others, as his appointment under Section 10 or 30, Criminal P.C. clothes him with. His decisions in appeal are principally as a Court of First Class Magistrate, but the appeal against his decision may ordinarily lie under Section 408, Criminal P.C. to the Sessions Court or to the High Court according to the duration of imprisonment for which he may pass the sentence (unless it is one of transportation in which case the appeal will lie to this Court only). Judged by the test of the sentence which the District Magistrate may pass, the appellate forum may vary according to the period of the sentence and its nature also. In matters of appeal, therefore, the District Magistrate is subordinate to two Courts, (1) the Sessions Court and (2) High Court. Out of the two Mohiuddin, A.J.C. Mohiuddin, A.J.C.

(2.) THIS reference is made in an appeal under Section 476-B, Criminal P.C. The necessary facts are given in the order of reference and need not be repeated. The question propounded is in these words: To what Court an appeal under Section 476-B Criminal P.C. by the person against whom a complaint has been filed by the District Magistrate shall lie.

(3.) SECTIONS 476-A, 476-B and 195 (3), Criminal P.C., use the word Court, and, the different classes of criminal Courts are mentioned in Section 6, Criminal P.C., and according to this section, there is no such Court as the Court of District Magistrate. As defined in Section 10, Criminal P.C., a District Magistrate is a Magistrate of the 1st Class, who is so appointed by the Local Government, and on account of his appointment under Section 10, he exercises certain powers which are given to him in the Criminal Procedure Code, but his Court is not a Court of a District Magistrate but is a Court of a First Class Magistrate only. Being a First Class Magistrate he can pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years under Section 32, Criminal P.C., and if iavested by the Local Government with powers under Section 30, Criminal P.C., he can try all offences not punishable with death but can only pass a sentence, under Section 34, Criminal P.C., of transportation or imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years. Under Section 407, Criminal P.C. a District Magistrate hears appeals and according to Section 408, Criminal P.C. a person convicted on a trial held by a District Magistrate, may appeal to the Sessions Judge, except in the case where the District Magistrate i.e. Magistrate First Class invested with powers under Section 30, Criminal P.C. passed any sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding four years or any sentence of transportation, in which case the appeal lies to the High Court. This shows clearly that a District Magistrate as such is not a Court and is only a First Class Magistrate who exercises special powers with which he is invested either by the Criminal Procedure Code or by the Local Government. His Court is that of a Magistrate, First Class, and appeals from the appellable sentence of his Court lie to the Court of Sessions.