Opining on the established principle of availability of alternate remedy, the Calcutta High Court recently observed that a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be filed for adjudicating upon a grievance pertaining to the non- registration of FIR by police authorities on the basis of complaint made.
Case of the Petitioner
In the present case, the petitioner had contended that the authorities of Contai Prabhat Kumar College had made certain defalcations of funds and subsequently he had registered a complaint with the police authorities in this regard. However, it was submitted that no action had been taken by the police authorities on the basis of the complaint made.
Accordingly, a prayer had been in the writ petition to issue directions to the respondent authorities to register on the basis of the complaint. The petitioner further prayed for issuance of directions to the Superintendent of the Police to initiate charges as to why proceedings should
not be initiated against him for not taking action after receiving the complaint.
Observation of the Court
In the words of the Bench “The grievance is in respect of non- registration of FIR on the basis of the complaint made by the petitioner therefore it is a grievance of personal nature, which cannot be agitated in a PIL. That apart, the writ under Article 226 of the Constitution is not a proper remedy seeking direction to register an FIR to carry out the investigation”.
The Court further observed that if the petitioner had any grievance with respect to non- registration of the FIR or improper investigation, then the petitioner should have sought for remedy available in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Case Details
Before: Calcutta High Court
Case Title:Abu Sohel v. The State West Bengal and others
Coram: Hon’ble Chief Justnice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajashri Bhardwaj
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