Criminal complaint filed by lawyer against Devendra Fadnavis: HC quashes sessions court order

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

THE Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed a 2016 order of the principal district and sessions judge directing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and complainant Satish Uke to appear before the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) court in connection with a private criminal complaint filed by Uke accusing Fadnavis of concealing facts, including two pending criminal cases, in his election affidavit in 2014.

Uke, a lawyer, was in news recently after the Supreme Court asked him to tender an apology to a HC bench, which had initiated a suo motu contempt case against him. Justice Sunil Shukre found the order of the principal district and sessions judge, dated May 30, 2016, as “legally unsustainable and perverse”. The bench wondered as to why a “reasoned order” passed by the JMFC on September 7, 2015 was set aside on the ground of it being “cryptic and non-speaking”.

“For an order to be reasoned, it is not necessary that it must run into several pages. Reasons can be stated and best reasons have always been stated in an order which is short, precise and succinct,” Justice Shukre said.

The HC also found fault with the sessions court’s order for making a scathing comment on the JMFC’s order “without any rhyme or reason”. Justice Shukre came down heavily on the order directing Fadnavis to appear before the JMFC. Uke had argued that Fadnavis had suppressed two criminal cases pending against him in his poll affidavit. He had challenged the election of Fadnavis and filed a private criminal complaint before the JMFC, which was rejected by the magistrate on September 7, 2015. Justice Shukre found that Fadnavis had “concealed no information which he was obliged to disclose under sub-section (1) of section 33A of RPA 1951.”