Special Court Can Conduct Joint Trial Of MMDR Offences With IPC Offences : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that a Special Court under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act can conduct joint trial of the offences under the MMDR Act along with the offences under the Indian Penal Code as per Section 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Section 220 CrPC specifies the situations where joint trial of offences are possible.  The Court noted, on a combined reading of Sections 4 and 5 of CrPC along with Section 30C of the MMDR Act, that the procedure prescribed under the Code shall be applicable to proceedings before the Special Court unless the MMDR Act provides anything to the contrary.

The Court also held that the fact that Special Courts are created for MMDR offences as per Section 30B does not lead to an inference that such courts cannot take cognizance of IPC offence.

The bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice BV Nagarathna observed :

"The Judicial Magistrate First Class is invested with the authority to try offences under Sections 409 and 420 IPC. On the other hand, the Sessions Judge is appointed as a Special Judge for the purposes of the MMDR Act. If the offences under the MMDR Act and the IPC are tried together by the Special Judge, there arises no anomaly, for it is not a case where a judge placed lower in the hierarchy has been artificially vested with the power to try the offences under both the MMDR Act and the Code. Additionally, if the offences are tried separately by different fora though they arise out of the same transaction, there would be a multiplicity of proceedings and wastage of judicial time, and may result in contradictory judgments.

It is a settled principle of law that a construction that permits hardship, inconvenience, injustice, absurdity and anomaly must be avoided. Section 30B of the MMDR Act and Section 220 CrPC can be harmoniously construed and such a construction furthers justice. Therefore, Section 30B cannot be held to impliedly repeal the application of Section 220 CrPC to the proceedings before the Special Court".

In conclusion, the Court held :

The Special Court has the power to take cognizance of offences under MMDR Act and conduct a joint trial with other offences if permissible under Section 220 CrPC. There is no express provision in the MMDR Act which indicates that Section 220 CrPC does not apply to proceedings under the MMDR Act;

Section 30B of the MMDR Act does not impliedly repeal Section 220 CrPC. Both the provisions can be read harmoniously and such an interpretation furthers justice and prevents hardship since it prevents a multiplicity of proceedings.

The Court also held that the Special Court does not have, in the absence of a specific provision to that effect, the power to take cognizance of an offence under the MMDR Ac twithout the case being committed to it by the Magistrate under Section 209 CrPC.