Prayagraj, Aug 4 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has held that a character certificate cannot be denied merely on the ground that a criminal case is pending against the applicant.
A bench of justices Prakash Padia and Vivek Saran said this after hearing a plea by a man who had sought quashing of a decision by the district magistrate of Jalaun and a direction that his application be considered afresh.
The court held that the pendency of a criminal case could not be a ground to reject an application for issuance of a character certificate.
The petitioner had applied for a character certificate but it was rejected by the district magistrate on the ground that a criminal case under sections 323, 504 and 506 of IPC was pending against him.
The petitioner’s counsel relied on a decision of a division bench in the Anil Kumar vs. State of U.P. and others case in which a character certificate had similarly declined on account of pendency of a criminal case under sections 323, 504 and 506 IPC.
In that case, the Superintendent of Police or the district magistrate was directed to issue the certificate in the format set out in the judgement within three weeks.
It was argued that since the application had been rejected before the criminal court passed the order of acquittal, the authority was required to revisit its decision in the light of Avatar Singh vs. Union of India in which the Supreme Court laid down the principles governing the effect of conviction, acquittal and pendency of criminal cases and of suppression or false disclosure of such information on employment. PTI COR RAJ ZMN
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