Delay In Filing Appeals: CBI-DG Assures Calcutta High Court Of Strict Compliance With Timelines, Disciplinary Action Against Erring Officials
The Director General of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Subodh Kumar Jaiswal appeared before the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday to explain the delays by the central agency in filing appeals in cases being probed by it.Justice Bibek Chaudhuri on April 6, 2022, had expressed displeasure at the agency filing appeals after the expiry of the limitation period. The Court had noted that...
The Director General of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Subodh Kumar Jaiswal appeared before the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday to explain the delays by the central agency in filing appeals in cases being probed by it.
Justice Bibek Chaudhuri on April 6, 2022, had expressed displeasure at the agency filing appeals after the expiry of the limitation period. The Court had noted that the CBI officers were failing to comply with the CBI manual which stipulates detailed provisions to avoid delay and ensure filing of appeals and revisions within the limitation period.
"Specific timeline was fixed for each of the officers of the CBI within which the order is to be passed and then sent to the next officer in the hierarchy. Undoubtedly the officers of CBI sitting in higher echelon of the department have failed to follow the guideline," the Court had averred.
Justice Chaudhuri had thus proposed amendment to the to the CBI manual empowering the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of the High Court to give his opinion as to whether an appeal should be filed and on the basis of the opinion given by the ASG, the zonal office may be permitted to file Memorandum of Appeal within the period of limitation. It had also instructed the CBI and Central government to submit their opinion on this issue.
When the case was taken up on May 11, 2022, the Court opined that the issue could not be decided without hearing the CBI Director and thus sought his virtual appearance.
On Wednesday, Justice Chaudhuri at the onset remarked while addressing ASG S.V Raju and the Director General of CBI that the central agency has been filing repeated appeals with inordinate delay which is not less than 500-900 days. He further underscored that such a delay is not due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that the higher echelons of the central agency must adhere ti the procedure enumerated in the CBI manual to avoid such delays in filing appeals.
Courtroom exchange
Addressing the concerns raised by the Judge, ASG SV Raju remarked, "My Lords right, there can't be inordinate delay and if there is delay my Lord, we will be taking steps to address the reasons for those delays".
Justice Chaudhuri: "And you know in application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, so far as Calcutta High Court is concerned practically there is a formula. On such and such date judgment was pronounced, immediately on the next date the CBI prefers an application for obtaining certified copy of the judgment, then it is sent to the local office, thereafter the delay starts. The Local office sends it to Delhi, the Delhi Legal cell waits 3 months time then from Legal Cell to another Cell it takes 2 months time. Then finally it takes 6 months time. In this way appeal is being filed after 1 year"
ASG SV Raju: "I appreciate the anxiety of My Lords."
Justice Chaudhuri: "If I allow all the applications under Section 5 of the Limitation Act then the common litigant may think that you are the privileged litigant"
ASG SV Raju: "No no, we are not the privileged litigant".
The ASG further clarified that in the instant matter, there was a delay of only 24 days and that it had been mistakenly averred to be 144 days. Further referring to a CBI circular dated March 4, 2020, the Court was apprised that specific timelines are provided for preferring an appeal and that if such timelines are not adhered to, disciplinary actions are taken on a case to case basis including the issuance of show-cause notice.
"So it takes less than 30 days for the entire thing to be set up and take a decision as to whether it (appeal) is to be filed or not. Thereafter the circular of March 2020 takes care of the anxiety of my Lords", ASG Raju averred further.
Justice Chaudhuri further referred to his order dated April 6, 2022, wherein he had recommended an amendment to the CBI manual to empower the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of the High Court to give his opinion as to whether an appeal should be filed or not and on the basis of such an opinion, the zonal office may be permitted to file Memorandum of Appeal within the period of limitation.
Referring to such a recommendation, ASG Raju remarked, "...the ultimate decision has to be by the central government. It can't be by the ASG my Lord.."
Clarifying the suggestion, Justice Chaudhuri remarked, "I am not on this, in my order I have not passed that only on the basis of ASG direction an appeal could be filed. My observation is that whenever an appeal is required to be filed before the High Court, the trial court judgment may be placed before the ASG and the ASG will examine and submit a report to the Director of Prosecution, CBI and the Director will endorse no objection. That is the thing"
To this, the ASG responded, "There may be difference of opinion between the ASG and the Director in which case the Central government under the Statute the Central Government has to take a decision...as far as the Delhi Special Police Act is concerned the authority is with the Central government to direct the Prosecutor to file the appeal. Of course while taking the decision, the Central government can definitely take the opinion of the ASG as suggested by my Lords and they would comply with it, there is no problem regarding that."
Thus, Justice Chaudhuri underscored, "That will be my suggestion to the Central government, to amend the circular dated March 4, 2020 suitably. "
Accordingly, the ASG submitted that he would consider the suggestion and get back to the Court on the next date of hearing after examining the relevant statutory provisions.
The Judge further recorded his satisfaction at the personal appearance of the Director General of the CBI and orally remarked, "I am happy that the Director is present and the Director has also heard the agony of this Court, the submission made by the learned ASG and I request the Director to consider the entire thing holistically so that your case may not suffer in the High Court on the point of limitation only. We also want to dispose of the case in a contested fashion".
Justice Chaudhuri further observed that the personal appearance of the Director General is henceforth dispensed with.
"I only wanted the Director to be present to hear out our conversation, our deliberation in course of the argument in order to ascertain what the Court wants and what our learned ASG wants", the Judge remarked further.
To this, the ASG responded, "Whatever is the concern of the Court, even if the Director is not present, it reaches the Director my Lord"
Background
On the previous date of hearing, the Court was apprised that the reason for delay was the time taken for procurement of certified copy of the judgment to be appealed against as well as the time taken in getting the final nod from higher CBI officials in Delhi on whether an appeal needs to be filed.
"This Court obviously trusts and hopes that the Central Government in its executive branch will also trust the expert opinion of the learned Additional Solicitor General more than the Director of CBI who may have varied experience in investigation but he does not have better legal acumen than the Additional Solicitor General," the Court had opined.
This is not the first time that the Court has expressed reservations at the delay in preferring appeals by the CBI. The Court vide order dated March 23, 2022, had refused to grant relief under Section 5 of the Limitation Act to the CBI for condonation of delay of about 302 days in filing an appeal by observing that the government agency is not a privileged litigant and that no explanation is forthcoming as to why the heads of various offices of CBI took such an unusual time to release the record of the case for the purpose of filing the appeal.
Case Title: Central Bureau of Investigation v. S.R. Ramamani & Ors