Arijit Pasayat, J. - (1.) IN some cases existing laws may be inadequate to grant relief to persons whom, the Court feels genuinely to be entitled to relief but in such cases the Court should not allow itself to be deflected by red herrings drawn across the track and it has to pass such orders as the circumstances warrant to secure the interest of justice and to appease its judicial conscience.
(2.) IN Skipper Construction case, the Supreme Court has accepted the Report submitted by Justice Bahari Commission. JUDGMENT There are some cases which at times strengthen the idea that existing laws may be inadequate to grant relief to persons whom, the court feels genuinely to be entitled to relief. Courts, more particularly, this Court will not adjure its duty to prevent violent miscarriage of justice by passing such orders as are necessary to uphold the rule of law and lift the veil of purported legality over such perfidious acts. In such cases the Court should not allow itself to be deflected by red herrings drawn across the track. It has to pass such orders as the circumstances warrant, of course within the four corners of law to secure the interest of justice and to appease its judicial conscience. The facts of the present case have some such unique features. In Miller v. Minister of Pensions (1947(2) All E.R. 373), it was observed that the law would fail to protect community if it admitted fanciful possibilities to deflect the course of justice. Technicalities should not stand in the way of Courts doing substantive justice. Ultimately, it has to be remembered that justice has no favourite other than truth. Fraud vitiates all transactions known to the law, however, high degree of solemnity may be attached to the transactions. In the present case, this Court took note of the massive fraud perpetu ated by several persons including corporate bodies. The kingpin in the whole episode is Tejwant Singh purportedly with the aid and assistance of his wife Surinder Kaur and sons Prabhjot Singh Sabharwal and Prabhjit Singh. This Court by exercise of the jurisdiction available under Articles 129, 136 and 142 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the 'Constitution') passed various orders relating to the properties acquired by Tejwant Singh and his family members and with regard to Skipper Construction Pvt. Ltd. (in short 'Skipper Construction'). By order dated 22.11.2004 following issues were demarcated for consideration : 1. Property situated at 22, Barakhamba Road and the Report of the Justice Bahari Committee on diversion of funds. 2. Property relating to Technology Parks Limited at Vaishali, Ghaziabad. 3. Property relating to Technology Parks Limited at Greater Noida. 4. Report of the Central Vigilance Committee pursuant to the order passed by this Hon'ble Court dated 13.11.2002.
(3.) WE are presently concerned with the report of Justice Bahri Committee. The first one is relating to property situated at 22, Barakhamba Road and the alleged diversion of funds, and the other relating to the report relating to Technology Parks Limited, (in short TPL') at Vaishali, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida. Justice Bahri Commission was appointed pursuant to the order passed by this Court on 4th May, 2000. The Commission was directed to look into diversion of funds of Skipper Tower Pvt. Limited (in short the 'Skipper Tower'). The project known as 22, Barakhamba Road was initially launched by Skipper Sales Pvt. Ltd. (in short 'Skipper Sale') under collaboration agreement with the owners of the property. The Commission has come to hold that foundation of the project was laid some time in 1983 and the super structure for three basements and the ground floor upto 10th floor were almost completed by 1987 and the 11th and 12th floors have been constructed during the year 1990-1991. Objection to the report dated 29.10.2001 of Justice Bahri has been filed by Tejwant Singh. We shall deal in detail with the findings of the Commission and the objections filed. Pursuant to the directions given by the Commission, informations were submitted by Tejwant Singh and others which the Commission felt to be distorted. They were in the shape of copies of the ledgers and a report of the Chartered Accountant. Commission, however, obtained copies of the Balance Sheets and Director's reports of various companies of the Skipper Group from the Registrar of Companies. During hearing, Tejwant Singh, Prabhjeet Singh and their employees were heard by the Commission. Representative of the Flat Owners' Association (in short the 'Association') was also heard. The Commission noted that Skipper Sales Pvt. Ltd. and Skipper Tower Pvt. Ltd. were two companies which dealt with the building projects. The former was incorporated on 23.6.1997 and the equity share holding was owned by Tejwant Singh and his wife on one side and Sh. Harpreet Singh and Harveer Singh-both sons of Inderjeet Singh, on the other. With reference to the Director's report for the period from 23rd June, 1977 to 30th July, 1978, the Commission found that Rs. 25,57,000/- were paid to the real owners of 22, Barakhamba Road property while entering into collaboration agreements with them and the project was launched thereafter. Soon after the agreement Rs. 86,74,455/- were collected from the prospective buyers for the commercial space. The Commission noted from the subsequent Balance Sheets and other financial statements and Director's Reports that another project at 5, Bhagwan Dass Road was taken up. There was also another project i.e. at 89, Nehru Place. With reference to the Balance Sheets and the financial statements of Skipper Sales, it was noted that the said company was giving loans to its sister concerns and companies and as per the Balance Sheet relatable to the financial year 1985-86, Rs. 17,04,08,637/- had been collected as booking amounts, and the amount pertains to both 22, Barakhamba Road and 89, Nehru Place Project. The Balance Sheet referred to above, indicated that Rs. 16,00,00.334/- had been given to sister companies and the cost of construction in respect of both the projects was Rs. 6,32,18,900/-. The two groups wanted to separate and an agreement was entered into on 3rd November, 1986 by which Tejwant Singh Group transferred shares in Skipper Sales to the other group and on the basis of said agreement the project at 22, Barakhamba Road was transferred to Skipper Tower. After this transfer had been effected, the Balance Sheet of Skipper Sales relatable to financial year 1986-87 showed that the booking amount relating to 89, Nehru Place was Rs. 11,83,19,511/-. Skipper Towers was incorporated on 18th November, 1976. Two sons of Tejwant Singh i.e. Prabhjot Singh and Prabhjeet Singh were Directors of this Company for some period and Tejwant Singh was its Managing Director. According to the records of Registrar of Companies, Balance Sheet and other financial statements till 30th July, 1987 were available but no other statement as required under the Companies Act, 1956 (in short the 'Company Act') has been filed thereafter. After looking into the documents made available and the informations collected by it, the Commission was of the view that Rs. 12,85,06,335/- had been collected from various persons for booking space.;