Sowmiya Rajendrakumar
Published on : July 28, 2022 at 21:56 IST
The Supreme Court observed that Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate cannot be said to be subordinate to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in so far as exercise of judicial powers are concerned.
“Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in addition, may have administrative powers. However, for all other purposes and more particularly the powers to be exercised under the Cr.PC both are at par.”, the bench comprising Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna observed
The bench observed thus while upholding the view expressed in a Bombay High Court judgment that (i) the District Magistrate, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate is not a persona designata for the purposes of Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act; (ii) the expression “District Magistrate” and the “Chief Metropolitan Magistrate” as appearing in Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act shall deem to mean and include Additional District Magistrate and Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate for the purposes of Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act.
One of the issues raised in this case was whether the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate can be considered subordinate to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate?
To answer this, the Panel referred to Articles 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 35 and found the following
- Any Metropolitan Magistrate can be appointed by the High Court to be the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. The High Court may appoint any Metropolitan Magistrate as an additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, and such magistrate shall have all or any of the powers of a Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under the Cr.PC or under any other law now in force as as senior magistrate. The court can order.
- The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and each additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate are subordinate to the Judge of the Sessions; and all other Metropolitan Magistrates shall, under the general control of the Judge of the Sessions, be subordinate to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
Therefore bench observed: “Thus the judicial powers and the powers, under the Cr.PC which may be exercised by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, can be exerrcised by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate also. Thus, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate can be said to be at par with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in so far as the powers to be exercised under the Cr.PC are concerned. “
bench also observed that “The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in addition, may have administrative powers. However, for all other purposes and more particularly the powers to be exercised under the Cr.PC both are at par. Therefore, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate cannot be said to be subordinate to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in so far as exercise of judicial powers are concerned.”