28 Sep 2023 8:34 AM GMT
In a major development, the Supreme Court recently came across a petition in which a fabricated document was produced as an order passed by the Supreme Court itself.
On realising that the order is fabricated, the Court ordered criminal investigation.
“It is obvious from the report(of the registrar) that the document purporting to be a copy of the order of this Court which is marked by Annexure-III in the report is a fabricated document. Therefore, the Registrar(Judicial Listing) must set the criminal law in motion by lodging a complaint with the jurisdictional police station," the bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal ordered.
The issue revolved around a SLP wherein the Annexures A and B contained two orders of the Court, dated July 25, 2022, passed by the same Bench. The first order was of dismissal however, surprisingly, the second order was of allowing the SLP. It may also be noted that as per the Court records, the cited was actually dismissed by the Court.
Pertinently, with respect to this issue, a complaint was filed by a litigant. After perusing the relevant documents, the Court directed the Registrar(Judicial) to hold an inquiry into this aspect and submit a report to the Court. It is worth mentioning that the Court then and there made it clear that if Registrar finds that this is a case of fabrication of orders of this Court, the criminal law will have to be set in motion.
After examining the report submitted by the Registrar, the Court held that it is clear that the order of the Court marked as one of the annexures in the SLP has been fabricated.
The Court also recorded that the concerned advocate did not appear though a notice was issued. The Court therefore said that it is for the investigating agency to examine the role allegedly played by the advocate.
Further, the Court directed the Registrar to submit a copy of this order along with the annexures referred in his report, while lodging a complaint. At last, to ensure timely investigation in the said issue, the Court also directed the Officer in-charge of the concerned Police Station to submit a report about the investigation, within a period of two months from the date of order.