text stringlengths 5 5.67k |
|---|
In the absence of any guidelines, it cannot be held that the power of the Vice Chancellor under ordinance 33(4) was merely a check on maladministration. Ratio |
As laid down by the majority in St. Xaviers College 's case (supra), such a blanket power directly interferes with the disciplinary control of the managing body of a minority education institution over its teachers. Ratio |
The majority decision in St. Xaviers College 's case squarely applies to the facts of the present case and accordingly it must be held that the impugned Ordinance 33(4) of the University of Kerala is violative of Article 30(1) of the Constitution. Ratio |
If the conferment of such power on an outside authority like the Vice Chancellor, which while maintaining the formal character of a minority institution destroys the power of administration, that is, its disciplinary control, is held justifiable because it is in the public and national interest, though not in its inter... |
A distinction is, however, sought to be drawn between the provisions contained in clauses (b) of sub section (1) and (2) of section 51A of the Gujarat University Act, 1949 which provided that no penalty could be inflicted on a member of the teaching staff without the prior approval of the Vice Chancellor or his nominee... |
It is said that while a provision making the prior approval of the Vice Chancellor a condition precedent against dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of an employee creates a fetter on the exercise of a disciplinary control, which the employer undoubtedly has, the provision conferring on the Vice Chancellor a power ... |
We are afraid, the distinction tried to be drawn is without any basis. Ratio |
We must, accordingly, hold that Ordinance 33(4), Chapter LVII of the ordinances framed by the Syndicate of the University under section 19(J) of the Kerala University Act, 1969 would not be applicable to an educational institution established and managed by a religious or linguistic minority like St. Joseph 's Training... |
Incidentally, the Kerala University Act, 1969 has been repealed by the Kerala University Act, 1974, which has come into force with effect from August 18, 1974. Ratio |
Section 65 of that Act confers power on the Government to constitute an Appellate Tribunal. Ratio |
Any 844 teacher aggrieved by an order in any disciplinary proceedings taken against him may under section 60(7) appeal to the Appellate Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal may, after giving parties an opportunity of being heard, and after such further inquiry as may be necessary, pass such orders thereon as it may deem... |
Section 61 of the Act provides that (i) pending disputes between the management of a private college and any teacher relating to the conditions of service are to be decided under and in accordance with the provision the Act, and (ii) past disputes of such nature which have arisen after August 1, 1967, and had been disp... |
We have been informed that the appellant has filed an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal, Kerala under section 61 (a) of the Kerala University Act, 1974. Ratio |
We refrain from making any observation with regard to that appeal. Ratio |
We wish to say that the validity of sections 60(7), 61 and 65 was not in question before us, and so we express no opinion in regard thereto. Ratio |
The result, therefore, is that the appeals fail and are dismissed. RPC |
The judgment of the High Court setting aside the two orders of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala dated October 19, 1970, is upheld though on a different ground, namely, the Vice Chancellor under Ordinance 33(1) and (4) had no power to entertain the appeals from the impugned orders of dismissal or suspensi... |
The costs shall be borne by the parties throughout as incurred. RPC |
We are thankful to Sri M. K. Ramamurthi, who appeared as an amicus curiae for the appellant, for the able assistance he has rendered. RPC |
P.H.P. Appeals dismissed. RPC |
iminal Appeal No. 64 of 1955. FAC |
26 of 1952. FAC |
V. N. Sethi, for the appellant. FAC |
R. Ganapathy Iyer and R. H. Dhebar, for the respondent. FAC |
December 22. FAC |
BOSE J. FAC |
The only question in this appeal is whether the High Court bad in mind the principles 1287 we have enunciated about interference under section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code when it allowed the appeal filed by the State against the acquittal of the appellant. Ratio |
It is, in our opinion, well settled that it is not enough for the High Court to take a different view of the evidence; there must also be substantial and compelling reasons for holding that the trial Court was wrong: Amar Singh vs State of Punjab(1) and if the trial Court takes a reasonable view of the facts of the cas... |
The appellant was prosecuted under sections 302 and 447 of the Indian Penal Code for the murder of Aher Jetha Sida. FAC |
It is not necessary at the moment to set out the facts. FAC |
It is enough to say that the High Court based its conviction on a retracted confession plus certain circumstances which the learned Judges regarded as corroborative. Ratio |
The learned Sessions Judge excluded the confession on the ground that it was neither voluntary nor true. Ratio |
The learned Judge 's reasoning about its falsity is weak. Ratio |
We do not think there is material on which a positive finding about its falsity can be reached but *hen he says that he is not satisfied that it was made voluntarily we find it impossible to hold that is a view which a judicial mind acting fairly could not reasonably reach. Ratio |
The facts about that are as follows. FAC |
The offence was committed during the night of the 18th/19th May 1952. FAC |
The police were informed on the 19th morning at 9 30. FAC |
The police station was only 4 miles distant and they started investigation immediately. FAC |
The appellant was arrested on the 20th. FAC |
They are Bhura, Dewayat and Kana. FAC |
The investigating officer was not examined, so he could not be asked about this and the point could not be developed further. FAC |
But the appellant did cross examine some of the prosecution witnesses (1) ; , 423. FAC |
(2) ; , 201, 1288 about this and elicited contradictory replies. FAC |
Kana, P.W. 4, said "I was not arrested. FAC |
Dewayat, Barat Lakhmansingh was arrested first. . FAC |
All the three of us were released the same evening. FAC |
Dewayat, P.W. 5, denied that either he or any of the others were arrested and Maya, P.W. 15, said the same thing but Meraman, P.W. 11, insisted that Dewayat was arrested. FAC |
In the absence of the SubInspector it is difficult to say definitely that the appellant is wrong. FAC |
It is evident that the others were at least suspected, especially as one of the points made against the appellant is that he was seen sharpening an axe on the evening of the murder and Meraman, P.W. II, says that not only was the appellant sharpening an axe but so was Dewayat. FAC |
If this was a matter of suspicion against the appellant it must equally have been so against Dewayat and accordingly there is nothing improbable in the appellant 's statement about these other arrests; and as the SubInspector was not there to clear up the matter it is only fair to accept what the appellant says. FAC |
The appellant was sent to a Magistrate at 8 p.m. on the 21st for the recording of a confession but the Magistrate did not record it till the 3rd of June. FAC |
He was examined as P.W. 21 and explained that be gave the appellant ten days for reflection. FAC |
The length of time is unusual but no objection about its fairness to the accused could reasonably have been raised bad it not been for the fact that the judicial lock up is in charge of a police guard which is under the direct control, orders and supervision of the very SubInspector who had conducted the investigation ... |
The danger that they might exaggerate their stories or give false evidence in their anxiety to avert further suspicion from themselves is 1289 one that cannot be overlooked. FAC |
But apart from that. FAC |
This is the description of the judicial look up which the Magistrate who recorded the confession (P.W. 21) gives us: "A police guard is on 24 hours duty at the Bhanwad Judicial lock UP. FAC |
The prisoner is so placed within the compound wall that he can see the police all the 24 hours through the bars and can talk. FAC |
These police officers are under the police Sub Inspector. FAC |
A peon is working as warder. FAC |
He stays there on duty by day. FAC |
At night he is not there. FAC |
Clerk Jailor does not remain present there. FAC |
The police lock up is within the ail itself. FAC |
Inside the jail gate is the police lock up. FAC |
The police can go into the police lock up when they choose". FAC |
Now the appellant repudiated his confession at the earliest opportunity. FAC |
He told the Committing Court on 12 12 1952 in a written statement that "After my arrest by the police I was sent to jail. FAC |
At night time the police, having arrived at the jail, threatened me to make confession before Court as they directed. FAC |
The police frightened me with beating if I did not confess. FAC |
As a result of which, through fright, I have made a false confession as directed by the police and which I now deny". FAC |
And in his examination under section 342, Criminal Procedure Code, he said "I have made the confession because the police were threatening to beat me in the jail. FAC |
He repeated these statements in the Sessions Court. FAC |
He said he was beaten at the time of his arrest and then after he had been sent to the jail he said "I was daily threatened. FAC |
They said 'confess the offence of murder. FAC |
We shall get you on remand. FAC |
You will live as an impotent man '. FAC |
On the morning of the 3rd date, they took me to a big police officer after administering extraordinary threats. FAC |
Only now I come to know that he is the Magistrate". , Now it may be possible to take two views of this statement but there are two important factors in every criminal trial that weigh heavily in favour of an accused person,: I one is that the accused is entitled 1290 to the benefit of every reasonable doubt and the oth... |
, an off shoot of the same principle, that when an accused person offers a reasonable explanation of his conduct, then, even though be cannot prove his assertions, they should ordinarily be accepted unless the circumstances indicate that they are false. FAC |
What the appellant said in this case is not impossible; such things do happen and it is understandable that the police, frustrated in their endeavour to find the culprit among three other persons, should make an all out endeavour to make sure of the fourth. FAC |
We do not say that happened here. Ratio |
But that it might have happened is obvious, and when the police absent themselves from the witness box and forestall attempts at cross examination, we find it impossible to hold that a judge acting judicially, and hearing in mind the important principles that we have outlined above, can be said to have reached an unrea... |
The only reason that the learned High Court Judges give for displacing this conclusion is that "in Saurashtra. . though judicial and police lock ups are placed under a common guard the judicial lock ups are in charge of Magistrates and are looked after by their clerks and peons, who are assigned the duties of jailors a... |
But what the learned Judges overlook is the fact that this control is only effective during the day and that at night neither the peon nor the clerk is there; and even during the day the "clerk cum jailor does not remain present there". Ratio |
The appellant said in his written statement that "at night time the police, having arrived at the jail, threatened me, etc". Ratio |
There is nothing on the record to displace this statement. Ratio |
Had the Sub Inspector or some policeman been examined as a witness and had the appellant omitted to 1291 cross examine him about this, that might have raised an inference that what the accused said was only an afterthought. Ratio |
But here we find that this defence about the involuntary nature of the confession due to threats by the police was raised at the outset, even in the Committing Magistrate 's Court, and was persisted in throughout and the appellant did what he could to build up this part of his case by cross examining the only official ... |
The fact that this defence was raised in the Committal Court should have put the prosecution on its guard and the absence of refutation in the Sessions Court is a matter that can legitimately be used in the appellant 's favour. Ratio |
In the circumstances, we do not think the High Court has squarely met the learned Sessions Judge 's reasoning and shown that there are compel ling reasons for holding that he was wrong; on the contrary, the learned Sessions Judge 's hesitation is grounded on well established judicial principles. Ratio |
Now the law is clear that a confession cannot be used against an accused person unless the Court is satisfied that it was voluntary and at that stage the question whether it is true or false does not arise. Ratio |
It is abhorrent to our notions of justice and fair play, and is also dangerous, to allow a man to be convicted on the strength of a confession unless it is made voluntarily and unless he realises that anything he says may be used against him; and any attempt by a person in authority to bully a person into making a conf... |
That is why the recording of a confession is hedged around with so many safeguards and is the 163 1292 reason why magistrates ordinarily allow a period for reflection and why an accused person is remanded to jail custody and is put out of the reach of the investigating police before he is asked to make his confession. ... |
But the force of these precautions is destroyed when, instead of isolating the accused from the investigating police, he is for all practical purposes sent back to them for a period of ten days. Ratio |
It can be accepted that this was done in good faith and we also think that the police acted properly in sending the appellant up for the recording of his confession on the 21st; they could not have anticipated this long remand to so called "jail custody". Ratio |
But that is hardly the point. Ratio |
The fact remains that the remand was made and that opened up the very kind of opportunities which the rules and prudence say should be guarded against; and, as the police are as human as others, a reasonable apprehension can be entertained that they would be less than human if they did not avail themselves of such a ch... |
It will now be necessary to set out the facts. Ratio |
The murdered man is one Jetha. FAC |
He married Sunder, P.W. 3, about three years before he was killed, but we gather that she had not gone to live with her husband; anyway, she was living in the appellant 's village Shiva with her people at the time of the occurrence and this afforded the pair opportunities for a long continued course of illicit amours, ... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.