Missing files put judicial officers in peril: Madras High Court

The observation had come forth in a cheating case registered by District Crime Branch, Coimbatore, way back in 2009 against five persons, including two women, wherein the ‘impression register’ pertaining to thumb impressions obtained from the sub-registrar, Annur had reportedly gone missing all these years.

It is the case of the de-facto complainant that her brothers Muthuswamy, Duraiswamy and Chinnaswamy along with her sisters-in-law Ponammal and Chinnammal had fabricated the partition deed and forged her thumb impression to register the document in the office of the sub-registrar, Annur.

After the registration of the FIR, there was a lull in the investigation for more than a decade, prompting the de-facto complainant to approach the High Court recently.

Following this, the police submitted a status report stating that when the investigating officer (IO) approached the sub-registrar, Annur to obtain the thumb impressions from the impression register relating to the document, she was informed that the said register in original has been submitted to the District Munsif court in Palladam.

But when the said court was approached, the IO was informed that the document has been sent to the Principal District Munsif, Coimbatore on August 7, 2012 and thereafter to the District Munsif court in Sulur. But when the IO approached the latter court, she was informed that the record is not available.

Based on this, the High Court directed R Poornima, Registrar (Vigilance) to conduct an enquiry on this aspect and submit a report. Pursuant to this, the Registrar traced the two original thumb impression registers in the District Munsif court in Palladam.

While submitting the report on December 10 to the High Court along with a photocopy of the two registers, the registrar said: “It is painful to note that most of the lower court staffs are either lethargic or have less training in handling case bundles. Due to their carelessness, innocent litigants are made to run from pillar to post for decades without getting speedy justice.”

Justice P N Prakash, while recording the registrar’s submission said: “This court is in total agreement with the views of the Registrar (Vigilance). This court is also aware that bundles go missing from courts frequently, thereby putting the judicial officers in peril.”

Noting that at this juncture, the court does not want to go into the larger issue of how to stem the rot, the judge issued a slew of directions to the lower court including return of the original registers within two weeks. The matter has been posted to January 18 for reporting compliance of the same.