R S NAYAK PADMAKAR BALKRISHNA SAMANT Vs. A R ANTULAY:ABDUL REHMAN ANTULAY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RESPONDENT Abdul Rehman Antulay (hereinafter referred to as the accused) was the Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra from 1980 till he submitted his resignation on 12/01/1982, which became effective from 20/01/1982. He thus ceased to hold the office of the Chief Minister from 20/01/1982 but continues to be a sitting member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly till today.

(2.) AS the contentions canvassed before this Court are mainly questions of law, facts at this stage having a peripheral relevance in the course of discussion, it is unnecessary to set out the prosecution case as disclosed in the complaint filed by complainant Ramdas Shrinivas Nayak (complainant for short) in detail save and except a few pertinent and relevant allegations. In the process the brief history of the litigation may also be traced.

(3.) SPECIAL Criminal Appln. No. 1742 of 1981 filed by the complainant against the order of the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate was dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court on 12/04/1982. Not the accused but the State of Maharashtra preferred an appeal by special leave under Art. 136 of the Constitution against the decision of the Division Bench of the High Court rejecting the special criminal application. This Court rejected the application for special leave at the threshold on 28/07/1982. Promptly, on the heels of the judgment of this Court, the Governor of Maharashtra on the same day granted the sanction under Section 6 of the 1947 Act to prosecute the accused in respect of specific charges set out in the order according sanction. Armed with this sanction. the complainant filed a fresh complaint in the Court of the SPECIAL Judge, Bombay registered as Criminal Case No. 24 of 1982 against the accused as Accused No. 1 and others known and unknown. In this complaint it is broadly alleged that the accused who was the Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra between the period August 1980 to September 1981 conceived a scheme of aggrandisement involving obtaining of funds from the members of the public and putting them substantially under his own control for the disbursal of the funds so obtained. The complaint proceeded to refer to the setting up of various trusts and alleged that the corner-stone of the scheme involved receipt by the accused of illegal gratification other than legal remuneration as a motive or reward for doing or forebearing to do any official act, or for showing or forebearing to show in the exercise of his official functions, favour or disfavour to persons, or for rendering or attempting to render any service or disservice to such persons who dealt with the State Government in general and with public servants who formed part of the Government. It was specifically alleged that the scheme devised by the accused was a flagrant abuse of his official position as Chief Minister for obtaining control over funds which would be used for purposes conducive to the interest of the accused himself. The complainant proceeded to so out the abuse of office of Chief Minister by the accused citing various alleged instances such as distribution of ad hoc cement contrary to law and the binding circulars, granting liquor licences as and by way of distribution of Government largesse, issuing no objection certificates for letting out premises by obtaining a price for the same. The running thread through various allegations is that the accused by abusing or misusing his office of Chief Minister obtained or attempted to obtain gratification other than legal remuneration as a motive or reward for doing or forebearing to do any official act as Chief Minister or for showing or forebearing to show in the exercise of his official functions, favour or disfavour to persons etc. To this complaint, the order granting sanction to prosecute the accused made by the Governor of Maharashtra was annexed and produced. After recording the verification of the complainant, the learned SPECIAL Judge took cognizance of the offences and issued process by directing a bailable warrant to be issued in the sum of Rs. 10,000.00 with one surety and made it returnable on 3/09/1983.