State of Maharashtra Vs. Ritesh S/O Vasudeo Wanjari - Court Judgment

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criminal procedure code, 1973 - section 439 - bail - grant of - special powers of high court - accused charges of murder and conspiracy with other offences - finding of high court on merits without giving opportunity to prosecution to lead evidence for existence of conspiracy - grant of bail by high court contrary to law.; for releasing the respondent on bail, the high court has ventured to refer to the merits of the case and prematurely held that there was no material on record to show that the respondent was guilty of conspiracy, in execution of which, once his beloved, was murdered. despite observing that the case was based on circumstantial evidence, the high court did not afford the prosecution an opportunity to lead evidence for establishing the existence of conspiracy.;once the final charge-sheet has been filed in the trial court, the high court, under the normal circumstances, should have permitted the respondent to get a verdict of his innocence or involvement from that court under chapter xviii of the code of criminal procedure. no exceptional ground has been made out, in the instant case, to depart from such a usual established procedure. the order impugned being contrary to law is liable to be set aside. - section 10: [swatanter kumar, c.j., a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre, jj] admission to professional colleges - technical courses - publication of brochure on basis of which candidates seek admission to various institution keeping in mind their merit and preference of colleges held, for ensuring adherence to proper appreciation of an academic course, it is essential that the method of admission is just, fair and transparent. the first step in this direction would be publication of a brochure on the basis of which the applicants are supposed to aspire for admission to various institution keeping in mind their merit and preference of college. brochure, firstly has to be in conformity with law and the statutory scheme notified by the competent authority. it is a complete and composite document as it deals with the scheme for conducting their entrance examinations, declaration of results, general instructions and method of admission, etc. this brochure is binding on the applicants as well as the authorities. this brochure or admission notification issued by the state or other competent authority cannot be altered at a subsequent stage particularly once the process of admission has begun. there is hardly any exception to this accepted rule of law. section 10: [swatanter kumar, c.j., a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre,jj] admission to professional colleges - technical courses - approval to additional seats or to start new course - cut off dates held, the settled principle of law is that merit of the applicant is the primary criteria which would determine his rank as well as the college where he would be entitled to admission. this rule should not be frustrated as it will tantamount to entirely upsetting the object of admissions based on merit oriented method and would cast cloud on the fairness and transparency of the method of admission. one of the ways in which merit can be defeated is allowing increase in the intake strength or commencement if new colleges beyond cut-off date and admissions beyond the last date specified in the notification/calendar issued by the concerned authorities. this can be illustrated by giving an example. college a which is running a professional course like engineering or mba etc. has an intake capacity of 60 seats which has duly been notified in the information brochure. however, after the cut-off date, approval is granted by the aicte and thereafter, the process is taken up by the state and the intake capacity of the college is increased by 30 more seats. these seats would obviously, not be notified in the information brochure and the candidate who are meritorious and for whom college a; be the college of reference could not get seats or give preference as the seats were limited. none had the proper knowledge about the increase in intake of seats though at a much subsequent stage and may be even after the last date of admission is over either by themselves or under the order of the court even it is put on the internet or given in the newspaper, the candidates of higher rank or meritorious candidates would not be able to avail of that benefit because they have already submitted the testimonial, have paid their fees and the courses have commenced. in that situation, for variety of reasons, they may not be able to take admission in the institution of their higher preference while the candidates of much lower merit will be admitted to that course. besides defeating the merit, it has been commonly noticed that the late admissions made by the colleges directly effect notified candidates who have questioned it more than often as their admission process is not so just, fair and transparent which has given rise to the litigation. it is also a kind of back door entry method. another serious consequence that result from such admissions is shortening of the academic courses in an undesirable manner. it is expected of other candidate selected to a professional course that he or she would complete the course in its entirety and not by missing more than a month or so in joining the said course. this results in lowering the excellence of education as well as harms the academic standard of professional education. admission to professional colleges: [swatanter kumar, c.j., a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre, jj] technical courses - held, in process of admission to professional colleges relating to technical courses, primarily three institutional bodies are involved. (i) all india technical council for technical education, (ii) state of maharashtra through director of technical education and (iii) university to which such institution is affiliated the role of all these institutions in distinct and different but for a common object. primary of the rule of all india council for technical education (aicte) is now well settled but that certainly does not mean that role of the state government and for that matter the university is without any purpose or of no importance. the council is the authority constituted under the central act with the responsibility of maintaining education standards and judging upon the infra-structure and facilities available for imparting such professional education. its opinion is of utmost importance and shall take precedence over views of the state as well as that of the university. the concerned department of the state and the affiliating university has a role to pay but it is limited in its application. they cannot lay down any guidelines or policies which would be in conflict with the central statute or the students laid down a by the central body. state can frame its policy for admission to such professional courses but such policy again has to be in conformity with the directives issued by the central body. while the state grants its approval and university its affiliation for increased intake of seats or commencement for a new course/college, its directions should not offend and be repugnant to what has been laid down in the condition of approval granted by the central authority or council. what is most important is that all these authorities have to work ad idem as they all have a common object to achieve i.e. of proper imparting of education an ensuring maintenance of proper standards of education, examination and ensuring proper infrastructure for betterment of educational system. only if all these authorities work in a co-ordinated manner and with co-operation they would be able to achieve the very object for which all these entities exist admission to professional courses: [swatanter kumar, c.j.,a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre, jj] admission schedule - interference by courts held, all the expert bodies viz. aicte as well as directorate of education in consultation with the departments of the state regulating the process of admission and maintenance of standards of education had notified a legal binding document specifying dates and schedule for various matters in relation to admission of students and commencement of courses. there has to be so compelling circumstances and grounds before the court to interfere with the prescribed schedule. it is neither so arbitrary nor so perverse, keeping in view the essential features relating to imparting education to professional courses that it should invite judicial chastisement to the extent of laying down entirely new schedule. merely because there has been some delay on the part of either of these authorities to timely grant of either of these authorities to timely grant or decline approval and permission to commence a course per se would not be sufficient ground for disturbing the notified schedule and timely commencement of courses. - 3. according to the prosecution, the respondent had a love affair with the deceased shubhangi. no exceptional ground has been made out, in the instant case, to depart from such a usual established procedure.r.p. sethi, j.1. leave granted.2. the respondent was arrested in connection with crime no. 129/99 registered by the police station, goregaon for the offences punishable under sections 302, 109, 120b, 364, 397. 201 read with section 34 of the indian penal code and under section 3(1)(xi) of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act. he has been granted bail pending trial vide the order impugned in this appeal on the ground that there was no material on record to establish the involvement of the respondent in the commission of the crime and that the accused was not aware of the criminal conspiracy, in execution of which, the deceased shubhangi was killed.3. according to the prosecution, the respondent had a love affair with the deceased shubhangi. the deceased was insisting for marriage to which the respondent and his mother were not agreeable as the deceased belonged to scheduled caste and the respondent belonged to tell community which is considered as higher caste. the respondent is alleged to have hatched a conspiracy to get rid of shubhangi by eliminating her. in furtherance ofthe conspiracy and to create evidence in his favour, the respondent went to baramati on 25th november, 1999. on 11.12.1999 one ms. vanita contacted the deceased, who was working at nagpur, and took her to market on the pretext of making preparations for marriage of the deceased with the respondent. in the evening, the other accused, namely. ashish, dinesh and ajay came in a maruti car and picked up the deceased along with ms. vanita and took her to ramtek. a contract killer is alleged to have been hired by the accused to murder the deceased. as the alleged contract killer did not reach on that day, the criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused could not be implemented. again on 13.11.99 accused ms. vanita took the deceased on the pretext of solemnising her marriage with the respondent. to the misfortune of the accused, the killing was not accomplished even on that day as their car had met with an accident in which ms. vanita, accused had sustained some injuries. the task of murdering the deceased was accomplished on 15.12.1999. the deceased was inflicted injuries with knife and stone and was also strangulated. in order to conceal the identity of the victim, the accused persons took away her purse, bag and other articles from the dead body and later on burnt the same.4. after his arrest the respondent filed an application for bail in the trial court which was dismissed on 24.4.2000 on finding that his complicity in the criminal conspiracy was established. being aggrieved by the order of the trial court, the respondent filed a revision petition under section 439 of the code of criminal procedure in the high court which was allowed vide the impugned order.5. for releasing the respondent on bail, the high court has ventured to refer to the merits of the case and prematurely held that there was no material on record to show that the respondent was guilty of conspiracy, in execution of which, shubhangi, once his beloved, was murdered. despite observing that the case was based on circumstantial evidence, the high court did not afford the prosecution an opportunity to lead evidence for establishing the existence of conspiracy and wrongly held that it was difficult to infer the existence of a conspiracy particularly when the respondent had gone to baramati. the factum of the respondent going to baramati was relied upon by the prosecution as one of the circumstances connecting the accused with the commission of the crime particularly when it was alleged that while at baramati he used to have telephonic talks with the other accused persons about the alleged conspiracy. in the absence of 'exact talks', the high court found that the allegation of conspiracy was not established. the single judge of the high court was not justified, at the initial stage, to observe :'...... it is difficult to say that after the conspiracy was hatched theapplicant had been to baramati and from there he used to have talks with other accused on phone regarding the alleged conspiracy.'6. once the final charge-sheet has been filed in the trial court, the high court, under the normal circumstances, should have permitted the respondent to get a verdict of his innocence or involvement from that court under chapter xviii of the code of criminal procedure. no exceptional ground has been made out, in the instant case, to depart from such a usual established procedure. the order impugned being contrary to law is liable to be set aside.7. under the circumstances the appeal is allowed and the order impugned is set aside. the respondent would be at liberty to urge grounds, if there is any, for his discharge before the trial court and the trial court shall not be influenced by any of the observations made by us in this order while deciding his plea of bail. we make it clear that no observation made by the high court in the order impugned shall either be made a ground in favour of the accused for deciding such a plea.