Judicial immunity applicable to revenue court officers: High Court | Patna News
Patna: Granting relief to a Bihar Administrative Service officer who was prosecuted for merely passing a stay order while deciding a municipal mutation matter, the Patna high court has ruled that the immunities available to judges of courts in India can be extended to officers presiding over revenue courts as well.A single bench of justice Sandeep Kumar allowed the quashing plea filed by Shailesh Kumar, currently a senior officer in the state’s health department. The judgment was uploaded on Wednesday.An FIR was registered on May 24, 2014, at Kadamkuan police station in the state capital against Kumar, who was then posted as executive officer of the Bankipore circle in the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC). The complainant alleged that while functioning as executive officer, Kumar had imposed a stay on the mutation of his property by committing fraud and forgery.Following investigation, police filed a charge sheet against the petitioner, after which the state’s law department also accorded sanction to the local court in Patna to prosecute him. This prompted Kumar to approach the high court seeking quashing of the FIR and the subsequent criminal proceedings.The high court found that the stay order passed on Jun 27, 2013, on the complainant’s mutation application had been issued by the petitioner in his official capacity. The court noted that the stay was imposed because litigation relating to the subject property was already pending before a civil court in Patna.Justice Kumar observed, “The stay order passed by the petitioner was appealable, but instead of availing that remedy, the complainant made bald and baseless accusations of passing a favourable order, which is not sufficient for initiating a criminal case against a serving govt officer.”
