Nathu
@ Paras Ram Vs. State of Rajasthan [2006] Insc 706 (31 October 2006)
S.B.
Sinha & Dalveer Bhandari
O R D
E R Perused the report of the Registrar (Judicial) dated 26.09.2006. The
special leave petition was filed on 10.06.2004, which was sent by one Nathu @ Parasram,
who is in custody. He had sent a copy of the judgment passed by the High Court.
The record was, however, put up on 04.09.2006.
It is
in the aforementioned premise that an inquiry was directed to be conducted. The
Registrar (Judicial), in his report, inter alia, stated that the office had
sent for the records of the courts below which caused delay.
Our
attention in this behalf has been drawn to Order XXI Rule 8 of the Supreme
Court Rules, 1966+, relevant portion whereof is in the following terms :
"8.
(1) If the petitioner is in jail and is not represented by an advocate on
record he may present his petition for special leave to appeal together with
the certified copy of the Judgment and any written argument which he may desire
to advance to the officer-in-charge of the jail, who shall forthwith forward
the same to the Registrar of this Court. Upon receipt of the said petition, the
Registrar of the Court shall, whenever necessary call, from the proper officer
of the Court or the Tribunal appealed from, the relevant documents for
determination of the petition for special leave to appeal.
(2) As
soon as all necessary documents are available the Registrar shall, assign an
Advocate from a panel of amicus curiae and thereafter place the petition and
complete documents for hearing before the Court.
The
fee of the advocate so engaged shall be Rs.250/- upto the admission stage and a
lump sum not exceeding Rs.500/- for the hearing of the appeal arising therefrom,
as may be fixed by the Bench hearing the appeal, and in an appropriate case,
the Bench hearing the case may for the reasons to be recorded in writing,
sanction payment of a lump sum not exceeding Rs.750/-." Rules framed by
this Court must be read in consonance with the fundamental rights of the
prisoners. A prisoner when sends a petition or an appeal from jail, the same
requires immediate attention of this Court. The Court while entertaining a
special leave petition having regard to the facts and circumstances of the
case, may suspend his sentence or allow his prayer for bail. Each petition is
accompanied by a copy of the judgment of the High Court, which is supplied free
of charge to the prisoners. It does not, therefore, appear to be reasonable
that in each and every case when the matter is being placed before the
Registry, the records would be sent for and when they are in vernacular
language, the same would be translated into English.
The
Rule no doubt permits the Registrar to call for documents, but the same is
required to be done only when the same is found to be necessary and not
otherwise. Records of the case should not, thus, be called for in a mechanical
manner.
We,
therefore, direct that when the special leave petitions are forwarded through
the officer-in-charge of the jail along with certified copy of the judgment,
the same should urgently be placed before the Court. The first listing of the
case should not be delayed. At best an office note be placed that the
translated copy of the records has not been sent; and if the records are
directed to be called for, the same are required to be translated.
It is
only in cases where records are required to be called for, the same should be
done; as otherwise it may await the order of the Court. We direct the Registry
to act in terms of this order in future.
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