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Satish Ukey v. Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 1103Decided 1 Oct 2019
Criminal Appeal Nos. 1515-1516 of 2019
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice Deepak Gupta · Justice Aniruddha Bose

Background

An advocate filed a criminal complaint alleging that the first respondent, an elected Maharashtra MLA who went on to become the state's Chief Minister, had failed to disclose two pending criminal cases against him in the sworn affidavit (Form 26) accompanying his election nomination papers, despite having knowledge of them. A magistrate initially dismissed the complaint, a Sessions Court ordered it reconsidered, but the Bombay High Court set aside that reconsideration order and effectively killed the complaint, prompting the complainant's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court traced the legislative history behind Sections 33-A and 125-A of the Representation of the People Act and the Election Commission's Form 26, which require candidates to disclose not just framed charges or convictions but also any case in which a court has simply "taken cognizance" against them. Reading the law, the Rules, and Election Commission circulars together, the Court held that this disclosure duty covers cognizance-stage cases, and since the complaint clearly alleged the first respondent knew of two such pending cases he did not disclose, the High Court was wrong to shut down the complaint at the threshold. The Court allowed the appeals, set aside the High Court's order, and directed the trial court to take up the complaint afresh from the stage it had been stopped.

Lesson Learnt

Candidates for public office have a strict legal duty to disclose even pending, un-convicted criminal cases in their election affidavits once a court has taken cognizance of them: concealment is itself a punishable electoral offence, and such complaints cannot be dismissed without a full hearing on the merits.

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

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