PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK Vs. R L VAID

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 are facing trial for alleged commission of offences punishable under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short "the I.P.C.") read with Section 5(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 (in short "the Act".) The case was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (in short "the CBI"), which is respondent No. 4 in the present appeal. An application was filed by the accused persons before the Special Judge conducting trial for summoning eight documents, as were indicated in the application. The learned Special Judge directed production thereof overruling the objection to the production thereof. It was the stand of the CBI and the appellant-Bank that the documents were privileged communication in terms of Section 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (in short "the Act"). Originally, CBI had resisted the prayer and subsequently the appellant-Bank raised similar objection. The Special Judge was of the view that the production of the letters would not cause any injury to public interest and it would rather facilitate the Court to arrive at an appropriate decision. It was noted that in such type of action proceedings, the Court cannot be kept in dark, and in the administration of justice, the Court should have fullest possible access to all relevant materials. The order was challenged before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by filing an application for revision under Section 401 read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, (in short "the Cr.P.C."). The application was dismissed with the following observations :

(3.) The stand of the appellant as well as the CBI is that when privilege was claimed and that too of documents which were confidential in nature, the learned Special Judge should not have directed production thereof. In any event, the High Court was not justified in dismissing the application filed by the appellant-Bank merely observing that in view of the decision in R.K. Jain vs. Union of India (AIR 1993 SC 1769), the appellant has no case. The applicability of the said decision to the facts of the case has not been discussed.