Latest news with #RituChhabaria
Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
‘CJI is not superior to 33 other judges in SC'
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai on Tuesday underscored that the country's top judge is not vested with powers superior to the other 33 judges of the Supreme Court, adding that the judges leading the first court of the country are bound by the principles of judicial propriety and discipline. Chief Justice of India BR Gavai.(ANI) 'The CJI is not superior to other judges. He exercises the same judicial power like the other 33 judges of this court. The CJI is just the first among equals,' Justice Gavai said while heading a three-judge bench that also included justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria. The bench was hearing the Union government's plea to recall an April 26, 2023 judgment in Ritu Chhabaria Vs Union of India, which held that an accused is entitled to default bail if the investigating agency files an incomplete charge sheet. The ruling, delivered by a bench of justices Krishna Murari and CT Ravikumar, triggered a spate of bail applications across the country in high-profile cases. The Centre's recall plea pointed to a May 1, 2023 order of a two-judge bench led by then CJI Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, which effectively put the April 26 ruling on hold after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta warned of 'large-scale ramifications'. On Tuesday, Justice Gavai's bench questioned whether a bench, 'just because it sits in the first court', could alter an order passed by another bench of equal strength. 'We believe in adherence to judicial propriety and discipline. If we permit this, one bench can go on interfering with orders of another bench just because the former does not like it,' Justice Gavai remarked. Mehta, on his part, urged the bench to consider the 'all India ramifications' of the Ritu Chhabaria ruling, citing around 50 pending applications where accused have claimed that mentioning Section 173(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in a charge sheet implies that further investigation is pending and, therefore, the chargesheet is incomplete, entitling them to default bail. 'It can create chaos,' submitted Mehta, adding that the special leave petition (SLP) in the matter should be heard to settle the law. The bench, however, pressed Mehta on procedural propriety: 'Where is the question of recalling an order in an independent case? What happened to your review plea in the Ritu Chhabaria case?' Mehta replied that the review had been dismissed on July 31 this year. Justice Gavai then indicated that a three-judge bench would be constituted to hear the matter in detail. The April 26, 2023 ruling in Ritu Chhabaria held that filing a charge sheet without completing the investigation or filing supplementary charge sheets merely to defeat the accused's statutory right cannot deprive an arrested person of default bail under Section 167(2) CrPC. This provision mandates release on bail if the investigation is not completed within 60 days (or 90 days for serious offences). The verdict arose from a petition filed by Ritu Chhabaria, whose husband was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named him only in supplementary charge sheets while the final report remained incomplete. In contrast, Mehta and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have argued that the ruling contradicts earlier three-judge bench decisions, including Vipul Agarwal Vs State of Gujarat (2013), and undermines provisions such as Explanation (ii) to Section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which allows further investigation even after a complaint is filed. The government has further argued that this ruling should be considered per incuriam, or made in ignorance of the law because it ignored a binding precedent from a co-equal bench in the Dinesh Dalmia case in 2017. For the past 16 years, the recall plea stated, the Dinesh Dalmia judgment had established a different legal principle. In that case, the Supreme Court held that the court that originally took cognisance of an offense could grant police custody during a further investigation. This was permitted as long as it followed the rules and limitations outlined in Section 167(2) of CrPC. On May 1, 2023, the then CJI-led bench agreed to examine the April 26 verdict's validity, directing that bail applications relying on it be deferred. ED separately challenged orders granting bail based on Ritu Chhabaria, including to accused in high-value money laundering cases. The Tuesday hearing has now added a layer of institutional significance as well, with the apex court openly deliberating on whether its benches of equal strength can virtually sit in appeal over one another's orders, and the CJI reaffirming his role as 'first among equals' in the judicial hierarchy.
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
CJI not superior to other SC judges, has same judicial powers: Justice Gavai
The Chief Justice of India is not superior to other judges of the Supreme Court and exercises the same judicial powers as the rest, Chief Justice B R Gavai said on Tuesday. The CJI made the observation as a three-judge bench, presided by him and comprising Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria, took up an application by the Enforcement Directorate for recall of the court's April 26, 2023 judgment in Ritu Chhabaria vs. Union of India & Ors case. A two-judge bench of Justices (retired) Krishna Murari and C T Ravikumar it its 2023 judgment deprecated the 'practice' of investigating agencies filing chargesheet in court even before completion of probe so as to deny default bail to accused, and said that even in such cases the right of the accused to default bail will not be extinguished. As per the law, the chargesheet has to be filed within 60 days from the date of arrest of the accused in cases triable by lower courts and 90 days in cases triable by a sessions court. Failure to file the chargesheet within this period entitles an accused to default bail. Days after the April 26 ruling, the ED approached the SC and told a bench presided by then CJI D Y Chandrachud that the Delhi High Court had granted bail to the accused in a case probed by it based on the SC judgment in the Ritu Chhabaria case. The agency pointed out that the decision will have nationwide repercussions. By order dated May 12, 2023, the SC suspended the operation of the April 26 judgment. On Tuesday, CJI Gavai expressed his displeasure over the one-judge bench, even if that be the CJI-headed bench, hearing appeals against judgements of any other bench of the SC. 'When a bench of two learned judges of this court grants any relief, can another bench, merely because it sits in court number 1, of the same strength, sit in appeal over that judgment,' asked CJI Gavai. He said, 'We believe in adherence to the judicial propriety, judicial discipline. If we go on permitting this, then one bench merely because it does not like an order, will go on interfering with the orders of the other bench.' 'The Chief Justice of India is not superior to the other judges. He is the first among the others. The CJI exercises the same judicial powers as all other judges of this court,' the CJI said. Appearing for ED, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the three-judge bench that the petitioner in the matter in which the April 26 judgment was delivered had 'misused' the court's jurisdiction. He said initially, a person filed a petition saying her husband was in jail and sought permission to allow her to send him home-cooked food. 'Thereafter the petitioner (in the April 26 matter) filed a similar petition that 'my husband is also in jail, so permit me to serve him home-cooked food'. The petitioner further pointed out that a similar petition (the first petition) is pending before a particular bench… Both matters are listed together. Then first (petition) pales into insignificance. Subsequently, an Interlocutory Application (IA) is filed…in the second petition where the main prayer is home-cooked food. It says the chargesheet is filed with Section 173(8) CrPC, which says that further investigation is going on…' 'The SC (two-judge) bench takes the view that once you file a chargesheet with 173(8), you will get default bail because it is an incomplete chargesheet,' the SG said, adding that this was contrary to multiple larger-bench judgements. 'Thereafter all-across India, people started filing default bail applications once chargesheet was filed (with section 173(8)).' The counsel for the respondents sought to clarify that in the writ petition for allowing home-cooked food, the IA for default bail was filed before the first hearing of the case. On the first hearing, IA was allowed, and notice was issued in the writ petition. The SG said if the court did not want to look at the recall request, it can still consider the ED's SLP filed against the Delhi High Court order and settle the law. The court finally agreed to list it before a three-judge bench.
