MATHURALAL v. BHANWARLAL & ANR (2)

Citation: [1980] 1 S.C.R. 620

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: D.A. DESAI, O. CHINNAPPA REDDY

Case summary

, in the case of attachment becaus'e of emergency the Magistrate was himself competent to decide the question of possession and in the -other two cases he was to refer the dispute to the Civil Court,_where-

Judgment text

620 A MATHURALAL v. BHANWARLAL & ANR. September 13, 1979 (D. A. DESAI AND 0. CHINNAPPA REDDY, JJ. ] • Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973-Ss. 145 ·and 146-Scope of-Magis- . -Irate if competent to proceed with enquiry after attaching the property ·in dis-· pute. I Apprehending breach of peace on account of a dispute over a house bet- ' C ween the appellant and the respondent the Sub-Divisional Magistrate passed a preliminary order under s. 145(1), Cr. P. C. , 1973 and later attached the sub· ject matter of dispute under ~- 146(1) on the ground that it was a case of· emergency. The appellant's objection that once the subject of the dispute had been attached under s. 146, he was not competent to proceed with the enquiry under s. 145 was overruled by the Magistrate. Having failed in his revision. petitions before the Sessions Judge and the High Court the appellant preferred· D an appeal to this Court.

It was contended on behalf of the appellant that while under the previous Code it was permissible to attach the subject of dispute pending enquiry by the Magistrate as contemplated by s. 145 such attachment pending decision by the Magistrate was not permissible under the present Code and that once the Magistrate effected an attachment he had nothing further to do except await. -f. E the decision or the direction of the civil court. Dismissing the appeal. HELD : It is wrong to say that the Magistrate's jurisdiction ends as soon. as an attachmen. t is made on the ground of emergency. ! -'i32 q 1. (a)· Sections 145 and 146 of the Criminal Procedure Code together con- F stitute a scheme for the resolution of a situation where there is a likelihood. of a breach of the peace because of a dispute concerning any land or water or their boundaries. If s. 146 is torn out of its setting and read independently of s..

145, it is capable of being construed to mean that once an attachment is effected in any of the three situations mentioned therein, the dispute can only be resolved by a competent Court and not by the Magistrate effecting the attachment. But s. 146 cannot be so separated from. s. 145. It can only be: G read in the context of s. 145. Contextual construction m~t prevail over isola~ tionist construction. That is one of the first principles of construction. [629 A-C] (b) On being satisfied about the existence of a dispute likely to cause a breach of peace, the Magistrate issues a preliminary order stating the grounds of his satisfaction and calling upon the parties to appear before him and submit their written statement. · On perusal of the written statements he would vro- H ceed to record eviden,ce to decide ,which of the parties was in possession on the date of the preliminary order. If he decides tbat one of the parties wasin p06Session he declares possession of such party.

If on the other • MATHURALAL v. BHANWARLAL 621 hand · he is unable to decide who was in possession or if he is of opinion that none of the· parties was in such possession, he may say so. ; If he. decides that one of the parties was in possession he declares the possession of such . property. In the other two situations he attaches the property. Thus a proceeding begu'n with a preliminary . order must be followed up by an enquiry and end with the Magistrate decicJing in OQ. e of three ways and making consequential orders. [630 A-D] (c) The Magistrate may, however, stop the proceedings at any time if one or the other of the parties satisfies him "that there has never been or·that ther. e is no longer any dispute likely to cause a. breach of the peace. The :Magistrate then cancels the preliminary order vide s. 145(5) except in this event a proceeding initiated by a preliminary order under s. 145(1-) must run its full course. [630 E1 (d) One of the situations provided under s.

146(1) is that in a case of emergency a Magistrate ·may attach the property at any time after making the preliminary order. There is no express stipulation in s. 146 that the jurisdiction Olf the Magistrate ends with the attachment. Nor is it implied. The obligation to proceed with the enquiry as prescribe~ by s. 145(4) is against any such implication. [630 G] · 2. The position under the section before its amendment in 1955 was that the parties that the right to adduce evidence and the Magistrate could take . further evidence if he so desired. There were two principal changes in the s:ction ~ a result of the amendment in 1955 : (1) the preliminary order was also to require the parties to put in documents and aftldavits of such persons clS they intended to rely upon in support of their claims. The Magistrate wa's to decide the case on a consideration of the written statements, the documents E . and affidavits put in by· the 'parties and after hearing them come to a conclusion.

(2) Where he was unable to satisfy himself as to which of the parties was in possession or where he decided that none of the parties was in possession after attacbing t11e property, the Magistrate was himself to refer the dispute to the civil court . instead of leaving it to the parties to go to the civil court. He was to obtain a finding of the civil court and thereafter conclude the proceeding under s. 145 in conformity with the decision of the civil court. The revised procedure having been found to qe unsatisfactory ss. 145 and 146 were again amended so as to revert to the position obtaining before the 1955 amendment. In the present s. 146 all situations in which alll attachment may be made are now mentioned together. [631 D·F] Chandu :Vaik & Ors. v. Sitamm B. Naik & Anr. [19/8] 2 SCR 353=1978 Crl. L J. 356 distingui~hed. G· Kshetra Mofirm Sarkar v. Purmz Chandra Mandal, 1978 Crl: L. J. 936, approved. CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 10 of 1979.

Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment· and Order dated HI 12-10-1978 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Criminal 'Revision No. 336 of 1978. 622 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1980] 1 S. C. R. D. N. Mukherjee and N. R. Choudhary for the Appellant. Dalveer Bhandari for Respondent No. 1. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. On the report of the Station House Officer, )-, Manak Chowk, Ratlam, that there was a d~ute between Mathuralal and Bhanwarlal concerning a house situated"tn. _ Kambalpatti, Ghas Bazar, Ratlam, which was likely to cause a breach of the peace, -the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ratlam, passed a preliminary order under ~.. ,ction 145(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, on 1st , March, 1978. On 2nd March, 1978, the learned Magistrate attached -C the subject of dispute under Section 146(1)r Criminal Procedure Code co'nsidering the case to be one of emergency.

Thereafter\ when the learned Magistrate wanted to proceed with the enquiry under Sec· tion 145 Criminal Procedure Code, an objection was raised by Mathuralal that such an enquiry was incompetent once the subject of the dispute had been attached under Section 146 Criminal Procedure 'D Code. The objection was overruled by the learned Magistrate. ,Successive Revisio'ns taken before the Sessions Judge and the High Court having borne no fruit, Mathuralal has filed the present appeal by spoxial leave of this Court. · The High Court, we may mention here, thought that the matter was concluded against the appellant by the decision of this Court in Clumdu Naik & Ors. v. Sitaram B. · Naik & Anr.

C) Shri Mukherji, learned counsel for the appellant urged that under Section 146 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, a'n attachment of the subject of dispute could be effected in three situations : (i) if the Magistrate at any time after making the order under Section 145(1) ·F considered the case to be one of emergency, or (ii) if he decided that none of the parties was then in such possession as was referred to in Sectiory 145, or (iii) if he was unable to satisfy himself as to which of them was theh in such possession of the subject of dispute. The attachm~nt so effected, regardless of the situation consequent upon which it was effected, was to subsist until a competent Court determined the rights o~ the parties with· regard to the person entitled to possession. This, he urged, clearly indicated that after an attachment was effected it was the Civil Court and not the Magistrate that was to have further jurisdiction in the matter.

He contrasted the provisions of Section 146(1) ,of the pres~nt code with the provisions of Section 146(1) and the third proviso to Section 145 (4) of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1898 as amended by Act 26 of 1955. He drew our (1) [1978]2 SCR 353 =1978 Crt. L. J. 356. MI\THURALAL v. BHANWARLAL (Chinnappa Reddy, J. ) 62 3 A attention to the circumstance that the third proviso to Section 145(4) ~ (a) (b) (c) 145 (1) Whenever a District Magistrate 145 (1) Whenever a District Magistrate, 145 (1) Whenever an Executive Magis- "" Sub. divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of Sub.

divisional Magistrate or Magistrate of trate is satisfied from a report of a police the first class is satisfied from a police- the first class is satisfied from a policeofficer or upon other information that a report or other information that a dispute report or other·information that a dispute dispute likely to cause a breach of the likely to cause a breach of the peace ex- likely to cause a breach of the peace ex- peace exists concerning any la~ or water ists concerning any land or water or the ists concerning any land or water or the or the boundaries thereof, within his local boundaries thereof, within the local liniits boundaries thereof, within the local limits jurisdiction, he shall make an order in of his jurisdiction, he shall make an order of his jurisdiction, he shall make an order writing, stating the grounds of his being in writing, stating the grounds of his being in writing, stating the grounds of his being so satisfied, and requiring 'the parties con- ~ a:: so satisfied, and requiring the parties con- so satisfied, and requiring the parties con- cerned in such dispute .

to attend his Court ttl cerned in such dispute to attend his Court cerned in such dispute to attend Court in in person or by pleader, on a specified 0 0 in person or by pleader, within time to be person or by pleader, within a time to be date and time, and to put in written state- fixed by such Magistrate, and to put in fixed'by such Magistrate and to put in writ- ments of their respective claims as respects ~ written statements of their respective claims ten statements. of their ·respective claims as the fact of actual possession of the subject as respects the fact of actual possession of respects the fact of actual possession of ~ ! Jf dispute. "0 the ~ubject of dispute. the subject of dispute and further requiring 0 them to put in such documents, or to ~ ttl adduce, by putting in affidavits, the evi- -dence of sli"ch persons, as they rely upon in support of such claims. _, (2) (2) .... (2) " .... " \.

0 00 (3) A copy of the order shall be ser- (3) A copy of the order shall be ser- (3 ) A copy of the order shall be ser- 8 ved in manner provided by this Code for ved in manner provided by this Code for .... ved in manner provided by t4is Code for Cfl the service of a summons upon such per- the service of a summons upon such perthe service of a summons upon such per- .

o son or persons as the Magistrate may son or persons as the Magistrate may son or persons as the Magistrate may ~ (I') or has existed; and in such case the Magis- or has existed; and in such case the Magis- or has existed; and in :such case the Magis- trate shall cancel his said order, and all trate shall cancel his said order, and all trate shall cancel his ~d order, and all further proceedings thereon shall be stayed, further proceedings thereon shall be stayed, further proceedings thereon shall be stayed, but, subject to such cancellation, the order but, subject to such cancellation, the order but, subject to such cancellation, the order of the Magistrate under sub-section (1) of the Magistrate under sub-section (1) of the Magistrate undoc· sub-section (1) shall be final. shall be final. shall be final.

~ (6) If the Magistrate decides that one (6) If the Magistrate decides that one (6) (a) If the Magistrate decides thal one d ":1 of· the parties was or should under the of the parties was or should under the of the parties was or should under the first proviso to sub-section (4) be treated 2nd proviso to sub-section (4) be treated proviso to . sub-section (4) be treated : ~ as being in such possession of the said.. as being · in such possession of the said as being in such possession of the said ttl subject,· he shall issue an or~er declaring subject, he shall issue .

an order declaring subject, he shall issue an order declaring 8 such party to be entitled to possession such party to be entitled to possession such party to be entitled to possession thereof until· evicted 'therefrom in due thereof until elected therefrom in due thereof until evicted therefrom in due ~ course of law, and forbidding all disturb- course of law, and forbidding all disturb- course of law, and forbidding all disturb- ance of such possession until such eviction ance of such possession until such eviction ance of such possession until such eviction ~ and when he proceeds under the first and when he proceeds under the second and when he proceeds under the first ~ ~ proviso to sub-section (4), may restore to proviso to sub-section (4), may restore to proviso to sub-section (4), may restore to .... (lj possession the party forcibly and wrong- possession the party forcibly and wrong- possession the party forcibly and wrong- fully dispossessed. fully dispossessed.

fully dispossessed. I (b) ...... .. (7) ..... ••• (7) .... •••• (7) - ...... . .. - (8) .... •••. (8) ........ ......... (8) ....... . \0 (9) ..... •. • (9) ........ .. 00 (9) . •.. •••• 8 (10) ...... .. (10) ........ (10) .. - •••• ! (146) {1) If the Magistrate descides (146) (1) If the Magistrate is of opinion ! 11 (146) (1) If the Magistrate at any time that none of the parties was then in such that none of the parties was then in such ~J after making the order under sub-section "possession, or is unable to satisfy himself poss~ss~, . of t4e su'Qiect of dispute, he -~·~ ---~ (1) of Section 145 considers the case to be •

t, and draw up a statement one of emergency, or if he decides that session of the subject of dispute, he may of the facts :·of the case and forward the none of the parties was then in such pos- attach it until a competent Court has deter- record of the proceeding to a Civil Comt session as is referred to in section 145; or mined the rights of the parties thereto, or of competent jurisdiction to decide the if he is unable to satisfy himself as to ~ the ;Person entitled to possession thereof : question whether any- and which of the which of them was then in such possession :t.

: parties was in possession of the subject-of of the subject of dispute, he may attach dispute at the date of the order as explain- the subject of dispute until a competent ~ t"" ed in sub-section (4) of section 145; and court has determined the rights of the ;> t"" he shall direct the_parties to appear before parties thereto with regard to the person ~ the Civil Court on a date to be fixed by entitled to the possession thereof : him: ~ Provided that the District Magistrate or Provided that such Magistrate may with· z Provided that the District Magistrate or the Magistrat who has attached the subject draw the attachment at any time if he is ~ the Magistrate who has attached the subject of disP. ute may withdraw the attachment at satisfied that there is no longer any likeli- F: of dispute may withdraw the attachment at any.

time, if he is satisfied that there is no hood of breach of the peace with regard ~ any time, if he is satisfied that there is no longer any likelihood of a breach of the to the subject of dispute. ....... _ longer any likelihoOd of a breach of the . peace in regard to the subject of dis- Q peace in regard to the subject of dispute. ~· pute. · I t l ! I l'i I 1:), (lA) ;g $:;) (lB) ~ (lC) ~ ~ (lD) ~ ·-.. - (1E) :--- '-' (2) When the Magi~trate attaches the (2) When the Magistrate attaches the {2) When the_ Magistrate attaches the subject of dispute, he may, if he thinks fit subject of dispute, he may, if he thinks fit subjed of dispute he may, if no receiver in and if no receiver of the property, the and if no receiver of the property, the relation to such subject of dispute, 'has been O'l subject of dispute, has been appointed by subject of dispute, has been appointed by appointed by any Civil Court, make such ~ "'-] ~II?

' Civil Co~rt appoint a re tv (a) (b) (c) OJ w]lo subject to the control of the Magistrate, who subject to the control of the Magistrate, looking after the property or if he thinks shall have all the powers of a receiver shall have all the powers of a receiver fit, appoint a receiver thereof, who shall appointed under the Code of Civil Pro- appointed under the Code of Civil Pro- have, subject to the control of the Ma. giscedure. cedure. trate all the powers of a ·receiver appointed .

under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) rJl c::: "d l:'::t Provided that, in the event of a receiver Provided that, in the event of a receiver Provided that in the event of a receiver ~ of the property, the subject of dispute, of the property, the subject of dispute, being subsequently appointed in relation to tn being subsequently appointed by any Civil being subsequently appointed by any Civil the subject of dispute by any Civil Court, g Court, possession shall be made over to Court, possession shall be made over to the Magistratel:'::t him by the receiver appointed by the him by the receiver appointed by the ~ Magistrate, who shall thereupon be dis- Magistrate, who shall thereupon be dis- ~ charged. charged • "d 0 (a) shall order the receiver appointed ~ by him to hand over the possession of the ~ subject of dispute to the receiver appomted by the Civil Court and shall thereaft~ discharge the receiver appointed by him; ,......

, (b) may make such other incidental or \0 consequential orders as may be just. -00 8 ..... 'f! \ ? -) l :;o . , \ .. , !. - '7 ~ ~· ~ l,l\ . ,.. j ,,. l ' - - MATHURALAL V. BHANWARLAL (Chinnappa Reddy, J. ) G2\J A Quite obviously, Sections 145 and 146 of the Criminal Procedure Code together constitute a scheme for the resolution of a situation where there is a likelihood of a breach of the peace because of a dispute concerning any land or water or their boundaries. If Section 146 is torn out of its setting and rr~ad independently of Section 145, it is capable of being construed to mean that once an attachment is B effected in any of the three situations mentioned therein, the dispute can only be P~solved by a competent Court a·nd not by the Magistrate effecting the attachment. But Section 146 cannot be so separated from Section 145. It can only be read in the context of Section 145. ·~. Contextual construction must surely prevail over isolationist construc- . , tion.

Oth~rwise, it may mislead. That is one of the first principles c of construction. Let us therefore look at Section 145 and co'nsider Section 146 in that context. Section 145 contemplates, first, the satisfaction of the Magistrate that a dispute likely to cause a . breach of the peace exists concerning any land or water or their boundaries, and, next, the issuance of a'n order, known to lawyers practising in the Criminal Courts as a preliminary order, stating the grounds of his D satisfaction and requiring the parties concerned to attend, his Court and to put in written statements of their respective claims as regards the fact of actual possession of the subject of dispute. A preliminary order is considered so b . ,d date but also to put in their written statements. Sub-section (3) of Section 145 prescribes the mode of service of the preliminary order on the parties.

Sub-section (4) cast~ a duty on the Magistrate to peruse the written G statements of the parties, to receive the evidence adduced by them, to take further. evidence if necessary and, if possible, to decide which of the parties was in possession on the date of the preliminary order. If the Magistrate decides that one of the parties was in possession he is to make a final order in the manner provided by sub-section (6). Provision for the two situations where the Magistrate is unable to B decide which of the parties was in possession or where he is of the view that neither of them was in possession is made in Section 146 4-625SCI/79 630 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1980] 1 S. C. R A under which he may attach the. subject of dispute until the determination of the rights of parties by a competent Court.

_ The scheme of Sectio'ns 145 and 146 is that the Magistrate, on being satisfied about the existenee of a dispute likely to cause a breach of the peace, issues a preliminary order stating the grounds of his satisfaction and calling upon the parties to appear before him and submit their written statements. Then he proceeds to ~ruse the statements, to receive and to take evidence and to decide which of the parties was in possession on the date of the prelimi'nary order. On the other hand if he is unable to decide who was in such possession or if he is of the view that none of the parties was in such possession he may say so. If he decides that one of the parties was in possession, he declares the possession of such party. In the other two situations he attaches the property. Thus a proceeding begun with a preliminary order must be followed up by an enquiry and end with the Magistrate decidtng in one of tb.. ree ways and making consequential orders.

~here is no half way house, there is no question of stopping in the middle and leaving the parti~s 0 to go to the Civil Court. Proceeding may however be stopped at any time if one or other of the parties satisfies the magistrate that there has never bee'n or there is no longer any dispute likely to cause a breach of the peace. If there is no dispute likely to cause a breach of the peace, the foundation for the jurisdiction of the magistrate disappears. The magistrate then cancels the preliminary order~ This E is provided by Section 145 sub-section (5). Except for the reason that there is no dispute likely to cause a breach of the peac~ and as provided by Section 145 (5), a proceeaing initiated by a preliminary order under Section 145 (1) must run its full course. Now, in a case of emergency, a magistrate may attach the property, at any time after making the preliminary order. This is the first of the situations provided in Section 146(1) in which an attachment may be effected.

'There is no express stipulation in Section 146 that the jurisdiction of the magistrate ends with the attachment. Nor is it implied. Far ' from it. The obligatio'n to proceed with the enquiry as pn:scribed by Section 145 sub-section 4 is against any such implication. Suppose a magistrate draws up a preliminary order under section 145(1) and immediately follows it up with an attachment under Section 146(1), the whok exercise of stating the grounds of his satisfaction and call! ing upon the parties to appear before him a'nd submit their written statements becomes futile if he is to have no further jurisdiction in the matter. And yet he cannot make an order of attachment under B Section 146(1) on the ground of emergency without first making a preliminary order in the manner prescribed by Section 145(1). There is no reason why we should adopt a construction which will lead to MATHURALAL V. BHANWARLAL (Chinnappa Reiidy,/,) 631 A such inevitable contradictions.

We mentioned a little earlier that the only provision for stopping the proceeding and cancelling the preliminary order is to be found in ~ction 145(5) and it can only be on the ground that there is no longer any dispute likely to cause a breach . of the peace. An emergency is the basis of attachment under the first limb of Section 146(1) and if there is an emergency, no one can say ,-:_ B that there is no dispute lik•. ;ly to cause a breach of the peace. Let us examine if a comparative study of the provisions as they stood, before 1955 a"nd after 1955 under the old Code and as they now stand under the 1973 Code lead us to a conclusion other than • ... that indicated in the preceding paragraph. From the comparative c table of the provisions, it is seen that there were two principal changes ma was in possession, after attaching the property, the magistrate was himself to refer the dispute to the Civil Court instead of leaving it to the parties to go to the Civil Court.

He was to obtain the ·finding of the Civil Court and thereafter conclude the proceeding under Sr~ction 145 Criminal Procedure Code in conformity with the decision of the Civil Court. The ,revised procedure introduced by the F 1955 amendment was not found to work satisfactorily and, therefore, it was, apparently, thought desirable to revert to the old procedure. The provisions of Sections 145 and 146 of the 1973 Code are substantially the same as the corresponding provisions before the 1955 amendment. The only notio. ;able change is that the second proviso to Section 145(4) (as it stood before the 1955 amendment) has now G been transposed to Section 146 but without the words "pending his docision under this Section" and with the words "at any tim:: after making the order under Section 145 (1)" super-added, The change, clearly, is in the interests of convenient draftsmanship. All situations in which an attachment may b. ; made are now mentioned together in -~ Section 146.

The words "pending his decision under this section" H have apparently been omitted as unnecessary since Section 145 provides how the proceeding initiated by a preliminary order must pro- 632 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1980] 1 s. c. R. A ceed and end and therefore an attachment made 'at any time after making under Section 145 (1)' can only continue until the termination of the proceeding. At the termination of the. proceeding, if he finds one of the parties was in possession as stipulated, the magistrate must make an order as provided in Section 145(6) and withdraw the attachment as provided in Section 146(1) since there ca'n ~ no dispute 8 . / likely to cause a breacl1 of the peace once an order in terms of Section 145(6) is made. In our view, it is wrong to hold that ! he magistrate's Jurisdiction ends as soon as an attachment is made on the ground of emergency.

•• A large 'number of cases decided by several High Courts some taking c one view and the other a different view were read to us. We do not consider it necessary to refer to them except to acknowledge that we derived considerable assistance from the judgment of Lahiri, J. , in Kshetra Mohan Sarkar v. Paran Chandra Mandal(l), in arriving at our conclusion. We may also add that the question now at issue did not arise for consideration in Chandu Naik & Ors. v. Sitaram B. Naik D & Anr. (supra). What was decided there was that a proceeding under Section 145 Criminal Procedure Code did not abate because of Section 8 of the Maharashtra Vacant Land (Prohibition of unauthorised Occupation and Summary Eviction) Act, 1975. In the result the aptx! al is dismissed. E P. B. R. Appeal dismissed. . -·-. (1) 1978 Crl. L. J. 936.