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Judgment
Bechu Kurian Thomas, J
Petitioner challenges Ext.P5 and Ext.P8 rejection notices issued pursuant to his application for issuance of a certificate of Non-involvement In Offences [for short, NIOC].
As per Ext.P5 petitioner’s application was rejected pointing out his involvement in Crime No.733/2020. In Ext.P8, the application for NIOC was rejected, stating that he is involved in Crime No.329/2022. According to the petitioner, the rejection notices issued to him causes serious prejudice, as petitioner’s employer requires a certificate from the Police indicating his non-involvement in an offence.
I have heard Sri.Shafeek A., the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Sri.C.N.Prabhakaran, the learned Public Prosecutor.
In W.P.(Crl.) No.827/2024, this Court had observed that the term ‘rejection notice’ in a certificate issued pursuant to an application for NIOC has a negative effect and can be misunderstood, leading to confusion. It was specifically directed that when applications are submitted for issuing a non-involvement of case certificate, the ideal method would be to avoid the word ‘rejection notice’ and issue a certificate named as “Involvement or Non-involvement in Crime Certificate”. In view of the above direction, the rejection notices issued to the petitioner produced as Ext.P5 and Ext.P8 are liable to be set aside.
In this context, it has to be mentioned that, as evident from Ext.P6 FIR in Crime No.733/2020 of Kurathikadu Police Station, petitioner is not an accused therein. Even if the petitioner is an accused in any crime, when an application for NIOC is applied for, respondents can mention whether any crime exists and, if so, the stage of the proceedings and the offences alleged, so as to enable the employer to decide whether despite the existence of a criminal case against the person he could be employed or continued in employment.
In the above circumstances, there will be a direction to the competent amongst respondents 2 to 4 to issue a certificate styled as “Involvement/Non-Involvement in Crime Certificate,” without stating whether the application is rejected or not. The needful shall be done without undue delay and in a time bound manner. The writ petition is disposed of.