Rupaben Sanjay Punjwani vs State of Gujarat and Others

M.R. Shah, J.—Present petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India has been preferred by the Petitioner - original complainant for an appropriate writ, direction or order quashing and setting aside the impugned order dated 18/10/2010 passed by the learned 2nd Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gandhinagar in Criminal Case No. 13737/2010.

At the outset, it is required to be noted that though the question and the controversy involved in the present petition is whether the Petitioner shall be permitted to represent through private advocate in the aforesaid criminal case No. 13737/2010 or not, as such no application has been given by the Petitioner before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate permitting her to represent the case and conduct the trial through private advocate u/s 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure It appears that the impugned order is passed on the application submitted by the accused objecting to the case/trial being conducted and represented by the private advocate on behalf of the Petitioner. Under the circumstances, as there is a broad consensus between the learned advocates appearing for respective parties that if so advised, Petitioner may submit appropriate application before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate and/or before the concerned Magistrate before whom the criminal case No. 13737/2010 is pending, permitting her to represent through private advocate in the aforesaid criminal case and to conduct the trial, u/s 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and as & when such an application is made, the same be considered by the learned Magistrate in accordance with law and on merits, without in anyway being influenced by the impugned order.

Under the circumstances, present Special Criminal Application is disposed of without further entering into the merits of the case and/or expressing anything on merits on interpretation of Section 302 of Code of Criminal Procedure and/or Section 301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by relegating the Petitioner to submit an appropriate application before the concerned Magistrate/Court before whom the criminal case No. 13737/2010 is pending, requesting the learned Magistrate / Court to permit her to represent through private advocate and permit the private advocate to conduct the trial u/s 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and as and when such an application is made, the same shall be considered in accordance with law and on merits and after giving opportunity to all concerned inclusive of the Respondents herein. If such an application is submitted within a period of two weeks from today, in that case, the concerned Court to consider the aforesaid application in accordance with law and on merits at the earliest but not later than four weeks from submitting the said application.

With this, present petition is disposed of. Direct service is permitted.