Gujarat High Court Stays Non-Bailable Warrant Issued Against Ex-GUJSAIL CEO Booked For Using State Aircraft For Travelling With Family
Lovina B Thakkar
9 Jan 2025 11:05 AM IST
The Gujarat High Court in an interim order on Tuesday (January 7) stayed a non-bailable warrant issued against former CEO of Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Limited (GUJSAIL) Captain Ajay Chauhan booked for allegedly using a government aircraft for an "unauthorized flight" to travel with his family from Ahmedabad to Mumbai.
The senior counsel appearing for the petitioner drew Justice Sandeep Bhatt's attention to the application filed by the Investigating Officer for the issuance of warrant under Section 70 (form and duration of a warrant of arrest) CrPC and trial court's order which had observed that "warrant is required to be issued in the aid of process of investigation".
He referred to Supreme Court's decision in State through Central Bureau of Investigation vs Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (1997) contending that the apex court had said that non-bailable warrant cannot be issued for the purpose of investigation and it can be only issued for presence before the Court.
The Counsel appearing for the State vehemently opposed the submissions made by the petitioner's counsel and relied upon the judgement in the case of Nazimuddin Fakruddin Kazi vs State of Gujarat (2016) to submit that the Trail Court had rightly passed the order and it should not be interfered with.
After hearing the arguments the high court said, “Considering the averments made in this application as well as considering the submissions made at the bar, the matter requires further consideration...In the meantime, interim relief in terms of Para : 16(B) of this application is granted, qua the applicant only”.
The Court thus granted interim relief for stay of the the execution of the trial court order, pending final disposal of the plea. The matter is next listed on February 24.
The FIR was registered under Section 7(public servant accepting or attempting to accept an undue advantage for performing or not performing an official act), 12(punishment for abetment of offences under the Act), 13(1)(A)(criminal misconduct by a public servant), 13(2) (punishment for criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with amendment of 2018 and IPC Section 34 (when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention). It was alleged in the FIR that the total expense done by the petitioner amounted to around Rs. 15 Lakh for a flight which was termed as unauthorized due to prevailing policy.
Case Title: Captain Ajay vs State of Gujarat & Anr.