Court No. - 47
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 25886 of 2019 Petitioner :- Tribhuvan Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Kuldeep Singh Chahar Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J. Hon'ble Gautam Chowdhary,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; learned A.G.A. for the respondents 1 and 2; and perused the record.
The instant petition seeks quashing of the first information report dated 16.11.2019 registered as Case Crime No.179 of 2019, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, P.S. Pachokhara, District Firozabad.
The allegations made in the impugned first information report are to the effect that the petitioner had secured appointment on 16.12.2009 by submitting forged and fabricated degrees.
The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the first information report has been lodged on a letter dated 08.11.2019 issued from the office of District Basic Education Officer, Firozabad. It has been submitted that the letter dated 08.11.2019 had also declared the appointment null and void and the same was challenged by filing Writ-A No.18587 of 2019 in which the operation of the said letter was stayed and, therefore, lodging of the first information report is not justified.
The aforesaid contention cannot be accepted because it appears that decision to terminate the appointment was taken without opportunity of hearing and, therefore, the petition challenging that order was entertained. When a first information report is lodged, the investigating agency is expected to verify the documents and come to its own conclusion and, thereafter submit police report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C. During investigation as well as after submission of police report, the accused gets opportunity to place his defence during trial. Moreover, it is well settled that pendency of departmental proceedings cannot restrain lodging of the first information report. Hence, the prayer of the petitioner to quash the first information report cannot be accepted.
However, considering the facts of the case, we deem it appropriate to dispose off this petition by providing that it is expected of the investigating officer that before taking coercive action against the petitioner in the above case, he would seek verification of the documents/degrees to ascertain whether they are forged or not.
Order Date :- 19.12.2019 AKShukla/-