KEDARNATH SIKDAR Vs. BIJOY MANDAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Rule is directed against an order of the District Magistrate of Jessore dated 10th November 1928 setting aside an order passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer under Section 144, Criminal P.C. and directing him to draw up proceedings under Section 145, Criminal P.C. This Rule was issued upon the ground that the learned District Magistrate was wholly in error in directing the learned Sub-Divisional Magistrate to draw up proceedings under Section 145. In my opinion, the ground upon which this Rule was issued, so far as it goes, is correct. Under Section 144(4), Criminal P.C. the District Magistrate is entitled to set aside the order made by a subordinate Magistrate. But there is no provision in the law that he can order a subordinate Magistrate to draw up proceedings under any other section. The revisional powers exercised by the Courts below are much restricted and do not extend to the wide powers given to this Court under Section 439 which have been made co-extensive with the powers of an appellate Court under Section 423, Criminal P.C. The proper course for the District Magistrate when he was of opinion that proceedings under Section 144 had been wrongly drawn up and that the right course would be to take action under Section 145 was to make a reference to this Court under Section 438.

(2.) In support of the ground on which this Rule has been issued reliance has been placed on the case of Kailash Chandra Pal V/s. Kunja Behary Poddar [1897] 24 Cal. 391. That case supports the view that I have ventured to take that a District Magistrate has no authority to remand a case to a subordinate Magistrate to take action under Section 145, Criminal P.C. But there is a distinguishing feature in this case which puts the petitioners out of Court. In that case the Sub-Divisional Officer drew up proceedings under Section 144 against a certain party on the result of previous cases between the parties which came up to the High Court and in which it was held that one of the parties was in possession. The District Magistrate was moved and he held that proceedings under Section 144, Criminal P.C. were not rightly drawn up and directed the Sub-Divisional Officer to institute proceedings under Section 145, Criminal P.C. Thereupon the Sub-Divisional Officer drew up proceedings under Section 145. Against that order of the Subordinate Magistrate a Rule was obtained from this Court. The learned Judges held that the District Magistrate had no authority to direct the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to institute proceedings under Section 145; and as the proceeding drawn up by the Subordinate Magistrate was not based upon police report or other information showing likelihood of a breach of the peace but was based on the order of the District Magistrate, they set aside the order of the District Magistrate as also the proceeding before the Sub-Divisional Officer.

(3.) In the present case there was a. police report upon which the Magistrate instituted proceedings under Section 144 That order was set aside by the District Magistrate. The Sub- Divisional Magistrate thereupon drew up proceedings under Section 145, Criminal P.C. in which he said that he was satisfied from the police report that there was a likelihood of a breach of the peace. So in the case before us the Sub-Divisional Magistrate considered the materials before him under Section 145 and it cannot be said that they were instituted without jurisdiction. The learned advocate for the petitioner argues that as the order passed by the District Magistrate directing the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to institute proceedings under Section 145 was wrong, the entire proceedings including the proceedings under Section 145 instituted by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate should be set aside. This I am not prepared to do, for the present Rule is obtained not against the order of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate drawing up proceedings under Section 145 but against the order of the District Magistrate remanding the case to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, though I do not admit that we have no jurisdiction to set aside that proceeding as a consequential order to the order of the District Magistrate. Secondly, when the Sub-Divisional Magistrate drew up proceedings under Section 145, he had sufficient material before him on which he relied. Though no doubt he was led to this course because of the directions given by the District Magistrate, but he did not act without jurisdiction or illegally in instituting proceedings under Section 145 when it was pointed out to him by his superior Court that his view relating to the possession of one of the parties was wrong. Thirdly, considering the state of the feeling between the parties it would not be right to drop the proceedings and leave the parties to fight. I would accordingly discharge this Rule. Graham, J.