# Smt. Vijay Devi and Anr v. State of U.P

- **Citation:** (2013) 3 ILRA 1171
- **Court:** High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
- **Decided:** 2013-08-07
- **Case number:** Criminal Misc. Application No. 1118 of 2002
- **Bench:** Ramesh Sinha
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/allahabad-high-court/smt-vijay-devi-and-anr-v-state-of-u-p-42681
- **Pages:** 4

## Headnote

Cr.P.C.-Section 482- Application to quash
the order rejecting discharge applicationoffence
under
section
379/411
IPC
readwith 4/10 U.P. Protection of Trees Act
1976-applicant
being
village
pradhanpursuant to resolution of Gaon Sabhaapproved by S.D.O. sale deed word Trees of
Shisham, Neem and Sagon of Gaon Sabha
Land-auction
purchaser
deposited
the
amount of bid in Gaon Sabha fund-I.O.-
without
considering
these
documents
submitted charge sheet-cognizance taken
by Magistrate on mechanical manner-and
the discharge application also got the same
fate with same manner-no offence made
out-entire
proceeding
consequent
to
impugned order quashed.

Held: Para-13
Hence in view of the above discussions,
no offence against the applicants is
made out on the basis of impugned
charge
sheet.
Thus,
the
entire
proceedings based on the impugned
charge sheet and the consequential
proceedings are hereby quashed.

## Text

3 All] Smt. Vijay Devi and Anr. Vs. State of U.P.
1171
custody by a valid remand from time to
time, the illegality stand cured.
--------
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL SIDE
DATED: ALLAHABAD 07.08.2013

BEFORE
THE HON'BLE RAMESH SINHA, J.

Criminal Misc. Application No. 1118 of
2002
(u/s 482 Cr.P.C.).

Smt. Vijay Devi and Anr.
...Applicants
Versus
State of U.P.

...Opp. Party

Counsel for the Petitioner:
Sri Sushil Shukla, Sri Rama Shankar
Mishra

Counsel for the Respondents:
A.G.A.

Cr.P.C.-Section 482- Application to quash
the order rejecting discharge applicationoffence
under
section
379/411
IPC
readwith 4/10 U.P. Protection of Trees Act
1976-applicant
being
village
pradhanpursuant to resolution of Gaon Sabhaapproved by S.D.O. sale deed word Trees of
Shisham, Neem and Sagon of Gaon Sabha
Land-auction
purchaser
deposited
the
amount of bid in Gaon Sabha fund-I.O.-
without
considering
these
documents
submitted charge sheet-cognizance taken
by Magistrate on mechanical manner-and
the discharge application also got the same
fate with same manner-no offence made
out-entire
proceeding
consequent
to
impugned order quashed.

Held: Para-13
Hence in view of the above discussions,
no offence against the applicants is
made out on the basis of impugned
charge
sheet.
Thus,
the
entire
proceedings based on the impugned
charge sheet and the consequential
proceedings are hereby quashed.
(Delivered by Hon'ble Ramesh Sinha, J.)

1. Heard Sri Rama Shanker Mishra,
learned counsel for the applicants and
learned A.G.A for the State.

2. This application under Section 482
Cr.P.C. has been filed for quashing the entire
proceeding of Criminal Case No.1203 of
1998 u/s 379, 411 IPC and Section 4/10 of
U.P. Protection of Trees Act, 1976, P.S.
Salempur, district Bulandshaher, pending
currently in the Court of A.C.J.M. Court
No.3, Bulandshaher.

3. The prosecution case in brief is
that on 22.7.1998 at about 11 p.m. when
the police party was on it's patrolling
duty, an information was received that
Smt. Vijay Devi, the Gram Pradhan of the
village and her husband Rameshwar
Dayal had got the green woods of
Sheesham, Neem and Saijan treeof the
Gram Samaj which were cut down and were
it hidden in the Jungle and was likely to be
taken to some other place in the midnight.
On the said information, the two police
constables namely Sukhbir Singh and Mohar
Singh who were on patrolling duty had
reached at Marauni Tiraha at about 11.30
hours. They saw truck No.U.P.13-0828
coming from the village Marauni and the
said truck was stopped at that Tiraha and was
checked by the constables and they found
that the truck was loaded with green woods
of Sheesham, Neem and Saijan trees. A
person sitting on the said truck Prem
Chandra informed the police party that the
said trees were cut down by the husband of
the Pradhan namely Rameshwar Dayal and
he showed some papers of village Pradhan
namely Smt. Vijay Devi regarding the said
woods on which there was signature of the
village Pradhan. It was further informed that
they did not have permission for cutting
1172 INDIAN LAW REPORTS ALLAHABAD SERIES
down the trees. The said truck loaded with
the woods were seized and kept in village
Parogani. It was informed by the truck driver
that the Pradhan had stated that in the night,
there is police checking at various places,
hence the said truck was being taken to
village Dewai. The Police party suspecting
that the Pradhan of the village and her
husband had sold the said woods in an illegal
manner. Hence the case was registered for
the offence u/s 4/10 of U.P. Protection of
Trees Act, 1976 and Section 379 IPC. The
FIR was lodged against one Shyamveer who
is said to be the purchaser of the woods of
the said trees. Padam Singh was the driver of
the said truck and Prem Chand who had got
the trees cut down also had share in the
woods of the said trees. The driver was not
having driving license nor any papers, hence
the driver of the truck was also challaned u/s
183, 192, 194, 196 and 207 of Motor
Vehicles Act.

4. The FIR of the incident was
lodged by a constable of Police Station
Salempur, district Bulandshahr as case
crime no.60/1998 u/s 379, 411 IPC and
4/10 of U.P. Protection of Trees Act, 1976
on
22.7.1998
at
18
hours.
The
investigation was carried out and the
charge sheet was submitted against the
applicants on 26.9.1998 and cognizance
was taken by the learned Magistrate.
Thereafter applicants moved discharge
application before the learned Magistrate
and the same was rejected vide order
dated 20.7.2001.

5. The contention of learned counsel
for the applicants is that the applicant no.1
Smt. Vijay Devi is the Pradhan of the village
and her husband applicant no.2 namely
Rameshwar Dayal is a Farmer. On 26.6.1998
a
general
body
meeting
of
Land
Management Committee was held in the
Gram Sabha which was headed by the
applicant no.1 and attended by the other
members. In the said meeting one of the
member namely Chotey Lal had proposed
that certain dry trees are standing on the
Gram Sabha land over plot no.209,
measuring 0.063 hactare which was cut
down by the villagers and were lying on the
ground, thus economical loss was being
caused to Gram Sabha. He proposed to
auction those trees which were lying as dead
woods which may add to an income of the
Gram Sabha. His proposal was unanimously
approved
by
the
Land
Management
Committee and resolution was passed and
necessary permission for auction was
obtained from the S.D.M. Shikarpur. Copy
of the said resolution of Gram Sabha has
been annexed as Annexure no.1.

6. In pursuance of the said resolution,
Land
Management
Committee
dated
26.5.1998 necessary permission for public
auction of the aforesaid trees was obtained
and granted on 15.7.1998 by the S.D.M.
Shikarpur after the necessary inquiry in that
respect was conducted by the Lekhpal and
other revenue officers who submitted the
report before the S.D.M. Copy of the report
of the Lekhpal and other revenue authorities
and the order granting permission for
auction of the S.D.M. has been annexed on
pages 17-18 of the accompanying affidavit.
Ultimately, a general body meeting of the
Land Management Committee was held on
19.7.1998 and public auction in respect of
the aforesaid trees of Gaon Sabha was held
and the highest bidding of Rs.3,200/- was
made by one Shyamveer and accordingly
his bid was accepted and approved by the
Land Management Committee on the same
day i.e. 19.7.1998. The said bidder
deposited the money in the account of Gram
Sabha with Punjab National Bank on
21.7.1998 and formal permission was
3 All] Smt. Vijay Devi and Anr. Vs. State of U.P.
1173
granted to the said bidder Shyamveer by the
applicant no.1 Smt. Vijay Devi in her
capacity of Chairman of Gram Sabha. A
photocopy of the receipt of the money
deposit is also annexed on page 23 of the
accompanying affidavit.

7. It was further urged that the
bidder Shyamveer along with other
persons were taking away the woods on
27.7.1998 at about 1 p.m. on the truck in
question to his destination, the said truck
was intercepted by the two constables
who without taking into account the
aforesaid fact and documents have seized
the said truck and lodged a false FIR
against the applicants and other persons
for illegally cutting down the trees and
committing theft of the same which were
the property of Gram Sabha. The
Investigating Officer of the case without
inquiring the correct facts of the case,
lodged against the applicants submitted
charge sheet against the applicants for
offence u/s 379/411 IPC and 4/10 of U.P.
Protection of Trees Act, 1976. The
learned
Magistrate
also
in
most
mechanical manner has taken cognizance
has summoned the applicants for the
aforesaid offence and also illegally
rejected the discharge application of the
applicants
without
considering
and
appreciating the aforesaid documents for
the public auction of the disputed trees of
the Gram Sabha and the necessary
permission of the S.D.M which is also on
record.

8. He further submitted that the
allegations in the FIR and charge sheet no
offence is made out against the applicants.

9. He further submits that though the
time was granted to the State to file
counter affidavit but till date no counter
affidavit has been filed, hence the
averments made in the present affidavit
filed in support of the 482 Cr.P.C
application stands unrebutted.

10. Learned AGA has admitted the
fact that till date no counter affidavit has
been filed by the State but he has opposed
the prayer for quashing and submitted that
the proceedings initiated against the
applicants are in consonance with law and
the charge sheet discloses cognizable
offence against the applicants.

11. Considered the submissions of
learned counsel for the parties.

12. I have perused the entire
material on record from which it is
apparent that the applicant no.1 Smt.
Vijay Devi who is the Gram Pradhan of
the village had passed a resolution for the
public auction of the disputed trees along
with
other
members
of
the
Land
Management Committee of the Gram Sabha
and in the said resolution, a decision was
taken for the auction of the disputed trees
which was lying as dead woods so that it
may not cause any financial loss to the
Gram Sabha. The Land Management
Committee
also
sought
necessary
permission from the S.D.M. for the public
auction of the said trees which was granted
by the S.D.M. after necessary inquiry from
the Lekhpal and other revenue authorities.
The public auction was held after the
permission of the S.D.M and the highest
bidder Shyamveer who had purchased the
said trees for Rs.3,200/- and the said
amount was deposited by him in the
account of Gram Sabha with Punjab
National Bank. A copy of the resolution of
Land Management Committee and the
necessary permission granted by the S.D.M.
on the basis of which, a public auction was
1174 INDIAN LAW REPORTS ALLAHABAD SERIES
made and the money deposited by the
highest bidder Shyamveer in the account of
Gram Sabha, copy of the deposit receipts of
Rs.3,200/- is also on record. The charge
sheet submitted in the case by the
Investigating Officer has not taken into
account the aforesaid documents which
were stated to be shown by the applicant
no.1 who was the village Pradhan to
Investigating Officer of the case and in a
most mechanical manner, the investigation
was conducted by the Investigating Officer
who on the basis of statements of police
witnesses a charge sheet was submitted by
him and no independent witness has come
forward to support the prosecution story.
The learned Magistrate who has taken
cognizance of the offence against the
applicants has also in a most mechanical
manner and summoned the applicants for
trial for the aforesaid offence. When the
discharge application was moved by the
applicant that too was rejected by the
learned Magistrate without appreciating the
fact that there was permission from the
S.D.M for the public auction and the money
in question has also been deposited by
Shyamveer, the highest bidder in the
account of Gaon Sabha, the learned
Magistrate has rejected the discharge
application and passed the order dated
20.7.2001 which is not sustainable in the
eyes of law.

13. Hence in view of the above
discussions, no offence against the
applicants is made out on the basis of
impugned charge sheet. Thus, the entire
proceedings based on the impugned
charge sheet and the consequential
proceedings are hereby quashed.

14. The petition stands allowed.
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ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CIVIL SIDE
DATED: ALLAHABAD 02.08.2013

BEFORE
THE HON'BLE SANJAY MISRA, J.

Civil Misc. Writ Petition No.1681 of 2013

Vidya Shanker Tiwari

 ...Petitioner
Versus
Surya Kant Tiwari and Ors...Respondents

Counsel for the Petitioner:
Sri Arvind Srivastava

Counsel for the Respondents:
Sri Siddharth Nandan

C.P.C.-Order
VII
Rule
10
readwith
Section
24(5)-
Transfer
of
suit
by
exercising Power under Section 24consequent to amendment of plaintenhancing pecuniary jurisdiction-neither
issues framed-nor the parties lead any
evidence-held-District Judge wrongly
exercised its jurisdiction-provisions of
Order 7 rule 10 can not be ignored-the
moment amendment allowed pecuniary
jurisdiction exceeded-effective from the
date
of
institution
of
suit-civil
judge(J.D.)
ceased
with
every
jurisdiction-except taking recourse to
return plaint for presentation before the
Court
having
pecuniary
jurisdictiontransfer order set-a-side.

Held: Para-32
The provision of Order VII Rule 10 CPC
are quite specific and deal with a
circumstance which has arisen in the
present proceedings where when the
amendment was allowed to increase the
valuation of the suit it related back to
the date of institution of the suit before
a Court which had no jurisdiction to try
the suit and neither the pleadings were
completed nor evidence was led hence it
was not a case of transfer to proceed
from the stage after evidence had been
led. The plaint having not been properly