A Magistrate Court judge was pulled by a HC judge for issuing an order overstepping his jurisdiction and gave a sermon on how to conduct court proceedings. HC Justice K N Phaneendra strongly criticised the 10th Additional Magistrate Court judge at Mayo Hall saying such method of working is detrimental to healthy judicial system and advised him to attend the judges training academy for guidance.
The police commissioner had issued an order to National Public School in HAL 2nd stage to install CCTV cameras for safety purpose. Sub inspector H Hariyappa visited the school on Sep 10, 2014 to check if the Commissioner’s orders were implemented. Seeing that they were not yet installed he lodged a complaint against the chief of the school Dr K P Gopalakrishna (79) and submitted an FIR to 10th ACMM court.
The judge admitted the complainant’s statement and issued a non bailable arrest warrant against Gopalakrishna. Again on 2015 June 5th a summons was issued to him. Gopalakrishna had appealed to HC claiming the action was unlawful and requested to dismiss the Summons and also the case.
Inquiring into the case Justice K N Phaneendra stated that the Magistrate Court judge had issued NBW and Summons overstepping his jurisdiction and dismissed the Summons as well as the case.
He noted that unless a written complaint is lodged by a government official, Court cannot ask for a certified statement. Before issuing the summons the Magistrate Court judge has not looked into this aspect before issuing an order against the applicant. This is a serious lapse. Before issuing the summons judge should confirm whether it is in his power to take action. Issuing an order mechanically is unlawful. The judge should hence go back to judiciary academy and get trained again, he said.
Summoning any person to court and issuing warrant is a matter of seriousness. It cannot be treated lightly. Unnecessarily issuing orders against people is infringing on their rights. Carelessness in judiciary is not acceptable, he said.
Before getting a certified statement from a person, it should be ascertained whether it is a private complaint or FIR filed. Judge should ascertain if the crime has indeed committed, does it come under one’s jurisdiction to honor the FIR, are there any legal hurdles to admit the FIR, are all procedural norms are fulfilled before filing the FIR should be ascertained. Failing this will infringe on the rights of people. The Magistrate has documented a certified statement without looking into all these aspects. The summon is issued in Cyclostyle format. First issuing a non bailable warrant and even as its proceedings are being implemented issuing summons is unlawful. Such legal proceedings are illegal and not good for a healthy judiciary, said K N Phaneendra.