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Girish Kumar Suneja v. CBI

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 615Decided 13 Jul 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 1137 of 2017
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice A.K. Sikri

Background

In the 2014 Coal Block Allocation cases, the Supreme Court had set up a dedicated Special Judge to exclusively try all coal-block-allocation criminal cases and had directed that any request to stay or impede the investigation/trial could be made only to the Supreme Court itself, not to any other court. The appellant, Girish Kumar Suneja, was chargesheeted and had charges framed against him by the Special Judge in a case linked to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd.; when he tried to challenge that order before the Delhi High Court, the High Court held the petition was not maintainable because of the Supreme Court's 2014 direction. He and several other similarly-placed accused persons (14 connected appeals in total) appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that this restriction unconstitutionally stripped them of their rights to seek revision (Section 397 CrPC), approach the High Court under Section 482 CrPC, or invoke writ jurisdiction under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that its 2014 order was validly passed under Articles 136 and 142 of the Constitution to ensure complete justice and prevent the coal-scam trials, already plagued by delay, from being further hampered by parties running to multiple forums. It reasoned that allowing accused persons to approach the High Court under Section 482 CrPC or Articles 226/227, or to file revisions, while the Special Judge's order for day-to-day trial was in force, would defeat the very purpose of the Supreme Court's own constitutional directions, since no lower court could in any event monitor or stay proceedings the Supreme Court itself was supervising. Noting that this very issue had already been raised and rejected in earlier related cases, the Court declined to revisit or modify its 2014 order, thereby affirming that any request to stay or interfere with the coal-block trials must come only to the Supreme Court.

Lesson Learnt

When the Supreme Court exercises its special constitutional powers (Articles 136 and 142) to set up and closely supervise a sensitive, time-bound criminal trial, it can validly restrict accused persons from approaching other courts to challenge interlocutory trial orders, ensuring high-profile or complex prosecutions are not stalled by parallel litigation in multiple forums.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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