High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 40 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 39170 of 2022 Petitioner :- Rajesh Malviya Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Anant Ram Dube,Shobhit Dubey Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Mahesh Chandra Tripathi,J. Hon'ble Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi,J. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. Uttara Bahuguna, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State- respondents. By means of this petition the petitioner sought following reliefs:- "(a) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the order dated 06.12.2022 passed by the present District Magistrate, Mirzapur
Decision
(Annexure-1 to the writ petition). (b) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent no.2, the District Magistrate, Mirzapur to consider the application of the petitioner dated 10.08.2022 (Annexure-8 to the writ petition) and pass appropriate order thereon issuing character certificate in favour of the petitioner on the basis of letter of S.P., Mirzapur (Annexure-4, 5 & 6 to the writ petition). (c) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the District Magistrate, Mirzapur to issue character certificate in favour of the petitioner on the basis of letter of S.P., Mirzapur (Annexure-4, 5 & 6 to the writ petition) enabling the petitioner to get renewed his registration certificate and to participate in the tender process which is likely to be held very soon. (d) Issue any other suitable writ, order or direction, which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case. (e) Award the costs to the writ petition to the petitioner." It appears from the record that the petitioner is a contractor registered as B-Class Contractor in Irrigation Department, U.P. Lucknow. The registration certificate of the petitioner as B-Class Contractor was being renewed by the competent authority from time to time on the basis of character certificates issued by the District Magistrate, Mirzapur. Earlier on 30.12.2004, 28.6.2008, 24.7.2012, 22.3.2017 and 26.7.2019 the District Magistrate, Mirzapur had issued character certificates to the petitioner on the basis of police report, wherein there was no adverse report qua character of the petitioner. On the basis of registration certificate and character certificate issued by the competent authority the petitioner was undertaking contract works as B-Class Contractor in the Irrigation Department. The renewal of registration certificate of the petitioner as B-Class Contractor was valid only upto 30.6.2021, and as such after expiry period of registration certificate, the petitioner applied in prescribed format to the District Magistrate, Mirzapur on 08.7.2021 for issuance of character certificate. On the aforesaid application, the District Magistrate sought a report from the Superintendent of Police, Mirzapur (respondent no.3) regarding the character of the petitioner. Consequently, the Superintendent of Police, Mirzapur vide his letter dated 28.1.2022 has made a recommendation that there is nothing adverse qua character of the petitioner. Again the District Magistrate by his letter dated 22.6.2022 sought a report from the respondent no.3 regarding the character of the petitioner. Again the respondent no.3 vide his letter dated 28.8.2022 has certified the character of the petitioner in which he has specifically stated that as per record in Case Crime No.9 of 1990 under Sections 147/148/149/323/324/379 IPC no charge sheet has been submitted and in Case Crime No.412(A) of 1998 under Sections 147/148/149/323/504/506/307 IPC and in Case Crime No.185 of 2018 under Section 135 of Electricity Act, the petitioner has already been acquitted and consequently, he has made a recommendation for issuing character certificate to the petitioner. Finally, by the impugned order dated 6.12.2022 the District Magistrate, Mirzapur has rejected the application of the petitioner for grant of character certificate. In this backdrop, learned counsel for the petitioner has challenged the impugned order dated 6.12.2022 precisely on the ground that initially, the Superintendent of Police, Mirzapur vide his letter dated 28.1.2022 has made a recommendation that there is nothing adverse qua character of the petitioner. On 22.6.2022 again the District Magistrate has sought a report from the respondent no.3. Again the respondent no.3 vide his letter dated 28.8.2022 has certified the character of the petitioner and observed that there is no impediment not to accord the character certificate in favour of the petitioner. Consequently, the order impugned has been passed wherein the District Magistrate, Mirzapur has proceeded to observe that till date neither any categorical recommendation is made nor the information is received indicating therein that the petitioner has already been acquitted in Case Crime No. 09 of 1990 under Section 147, 148, 149, 323, 324, 379, I.P.C. Only in this backdrop, the character certificate has been denied to the petitioner. He has placed reliance on the question-answer obtained from the office of the Civil Judge (JD)-II, Mirzapur as to whether Case Crime No.9 of 1990 under Sections 147/148/149/323/324/379 IPC is pending for trial or not and in response thereto, it has been mentioned by the office report dated 24.6.2022 that no such case is pending in this Court. Initially, the matter was taken up on 24.2.2023 and on the said date, the Court has asked the learned Standing Counsel to seek instructions in the matter. When the matter is taken up today, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel has produced detailed instructions wherein it has been stated that only on account of non-categorical information that aforesaid criminal proceedings is still pending before the competent court or not, the character certificate has not been issued in favour of the petitioner till date. In the instruction, nothing has been brought on record to indicate or suggest that there is any other impediment for not according character certificate to the petitioner. Considering the aforementioned facts and circumstances, once the categorical questionire is brought on record indicating therein that there is no criminal proceeding pending before the competent court and no further material has been placed before us by the respondents indicating any other impediment in not according character certificate, the order impugned is not sustainable. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 6.12.2022 is set aside and the matter is relegated to District Magistrate, Mirzapur to pass an appropriate order but certainly after taking a fresh report from the Superintendent of Police, Mirzapur. Such exercise is to be carried out within six weeks from the date of production of certified copy of this order. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed to the extent indicated above. Order Date :- 2.3.2023 Abhishek Gupta Digitally signed by :- ABHISHEK GUPTA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad