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Jupally Lakshmikantha Reddy vs. State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr.

Not available · 2025 INSC 1096Decided 10 Sept 2025
Not available
Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice Joymalya Bagchi

Background

The appellant ran an educational society/college from a building 14.20 metres tall. A Fire Officer alleged the college had obtained recognition using a forged fire safety no-objection certificate (NOC), leading to a criminal case under Sections 420, 465, 468, 471 IPC. However, under India's National Building Code, buildings below 15 metres do not require a fire NOC at all: a fact confirmed when the appellant's own writ petition on this exact point was allowed by the High Court in 2018. The appellant sought to quash the criminal case as baseless, but the Andhra Pradesh High Court declined, holding the NOC issue needed to be examined at trial rather than quashed at the threshold.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that since a fire NOC was never legally required for the appellant's building (being under 15 metres), the alleged false representation about possessing an NOC could not have "induced" the Education Department to grant recognition, breaking the essential causal link required for the offence of cheating under Section 420 IPC. It also held forgery-related offences (Sections 465, 468, 471) could not be sustained because the actual forged document was never even recovered, and there was no evidence the appellant himself created it. The Court set aside the High Court's order and quashed the entire criminal proceeding.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal charge of cheating cannot survive if the alleged false representation was not actually necessary to obtain the benefit in question. Courts can and will quash such prosecutions at the threshold when the chargesheet's own facts show the essential legal ingredients of the offence are missing.

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

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