Order XX - Criminal Appeals : Supreme Court Rules 2013

 

What are the procedures in Criminal Appeals? Order XX of Supreme Court Rules 2013

 

Order XX of Supreme Court Rules 2013 : "Criminal Appeals"

1. Every criminal appeal in which a certificate of the nature referred to in clause (1) of article 132 or sub clause (c) of clause (1) of article 134 has been granted under article 134A of the Constitution shall be lodged in the Court within sixty days from the date of the certificate granted by the High Court, and every appeal under article 134(1Xa) and (b) of the Constitution or under any other provision of law within sixty days from the date of the Judgment, final order or sentence appealed from:

 

 

Provided that in computing the period, the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the Judgment or order appealed from, and where the appeal is on a certificate, of the certificate, and the order granting the certificate shall be excluded:

Provided further that the Court may, for sufficient cause shown extend the time.

2. (1) The memorandum of appeal shall be in the form of a petition. It shall state succinctly and briefly, and as far as possible, in chronological order, the principal steps in the proceedings from its commencement till its conclusion in the High Court.

(2) The petition of appeal shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the judgment or order appealed from and in the case of an appeal on a certificate also of the certificate granted by the High Court, and of the order granting the said certificate. In appeals falling under any of the categories enumerated in sub-rule (1) of rule 5, however, in addition to the documents mentioned above, a certified copy (or uncertified copy if such copy is affirmed to be true copy upon affidavit) of the Judgment or order of the Court immediately below shall also be filed before the appeal is listed for hearing ex-parte. At least seven copies of the aforesaid documents shall be tiled in the Registry.

(3) Where the appellant has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the petition of appeal shall state - whether the appellant has surrendered and if he has surrendered then the appellant shall, by way of proof of such surrender, file the certified copy of the order of the Court in which he has surrendered or a certificate of the competent officer of the Jail in which he is undergoing the sentence. A mere attestation of the signatures on the Vakalatnama from the Jail authorities shall not be considered as sufficient proof of surrender. Where the appellant has not surrendered to the sentence, the petition of appeal shall not be accepted by the Registry unless it is accompanied by an application for seeking exemption from surrendering. Where the petition of appeal is accompanied by an application for exemption from surrendering, that application alone shall be posted for hearing /orders before the Court in the first instance.

4. Where the appellant is in jail, he may present his petition of appeal and the documents mentioned in rule 2 including any written argument which he may desire to advance to the officer-in-charge of the jail, who shall forthwith forward the same to the Registrar of the Court.

5. (1) The petition of appeal shall be registered and numbered as soon as it is found to be in order. Each of the following categories of appeals, on being registered, shall be put for hearing ex-parte before the Court, which may either dismiss it summarily or direct issue of notice to all necessary parties, or may make such orders, as the circumstances of the case may require, namely:

 

(a) an appeal from any Judgment, final order or sentence in a criminal proceeding of a High Court summarily dismissing the appeal or the matter, as the case may be, before it;

(b) an appeal on a certificate granted by the High Court under article 134A of the Constitution being a certificate of the nature referred to in clause (1) of article 132 or sub-clause (c) of clause (1) of article 134 of the Constitution or under any other provision of law if the High Court has not recorded the reasons or the grounds for granting the certificate.

(c) an appeal under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 19 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (70 of 1971).

(2) On the registration of the appeal and in the appeals falling under sub-rule (1) as soon as notice is directed to be issued, the Registrar shall send a copy of the petition of appeal and the accompanying papers, if any, to the High Court or the Tribunal concerned; and shall cause notice of the appeal to be given, where the appeal is by a convicted person to the Attorney General for India or to the Advocate General or the Government Advocate of the State concerned, or to both as the case may require, and in cases where the appeal is by the Government to the accused and in cases under section 341(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to the respondent.

6. The respondent may enter appearance in the Court within thirty days of the service of the notice of lodgment of the petition of appeal on him.

 

Preparation of the Record

7. The record of the appeal shall be printed in accordance with the rules contained in the First Schedule to these rules, and unless otherwise directed by the Court, it shall be printed under the supervision of the Registrar of this Court and at the expense of the appellant. In appeals involving sentence of death and in other cases in which the Court thinks fit so to direct, the record shall be printed at the expense of the State concerned.

8. The record of appeal arising out of the petition for special leave to appeal shall normally consist of the petition of appeal and the paper book of the Court below, if available plus such additional documents that the parties may file from the record of the case, if the printed record of the Court below be not available. In that event, no fresh printing of the record shall be necessary, and the original record will be called for, from the Court below for reference of the Court:

Provided however, that where the records are printed for the purpose of the appeal before the High Court, the High Court shall prepare 10 extra copies in addition to the number of copies required by the High Court for use in the Court, if the said record be in English:

 

Provided further that where in a particular case the Court feels that fresh printing of record is necessary, a specific order to that effect shall be made by the Court at the time of granting special leave to appeal, and the provisions contained in Order XIX relating to preparation of record shall, with necessary modification and adaptation apply.

9. (1) Save as otherwise provided for in the rules, the provisions contained in Order XIX relating to the printing and preparation of the record in civil appeals shall with necessary modifications and adaptations, apply to the printing and preparation of records in Criminal Appeals.

(2) In all cases where the record has been printed for the purposes of the appeal before the High Court or other proceedings all available copies of the printed record except one, if the record be in English, shall be dispatched to this Court along with the entire original record including the records of the Court below. One of such copies shall be duly authenticated by the Registrar of the Court appealed from.

(3) If a minimum number of 5 copies of the said printed record is available, no fresh printing of the record shall be necessary except of such additional papers as may be required.

Explanation 1- For the purposes of this rule the original record shall not include judgments of the High Court and the Courts below, but only duly authenticated copies thereof.

Explanation 11.- Printing for the purpose of this rule includes photocopying and typing and printed record includes photocopied or typed record.

(4) Two copies of the High Court paper book if available for dispatch to this Court shall be treated as transcript record for the purpose of printing in this Court. In that event only such of the additional documents as the parties choose to include for the hearing of the appeal in this Court shall be typed in duplicate and transmitted to this Court along with the High Court paper books, one copy of each of which shall be duly authenticated.

(5) For the purpose of transcript record proper of the appeal, to be laid before this Court, such of the documents in vernacular as have already been translated for the purpose of the High Court appeal and which are included in the High Court appeal paper book need not be translated again.

10. Where the appellant fails to take necessary steps to have the record prepared and transmitted to the Court with due diligence, the Registrar of the Court appealed from shall report the default to the Registrar of this Court and the Registrar of this Court may thereupon issue a summons to the appellant calling upon him to show cause before the Court on a date to be specified in the summons why the appeal should not be dismissed. The Court may thereupon dismiss the appeal for non-prosecution or pass such orders as the justice of the case may require.

 

11. Where an appeal has been dismissed for non-prosecution, the appellant may, within thirty days of the order, resent a petition praying that the appeal may be restored and the Court may, after giving notice of the application to the respondent, if he has entered appearance, restore the appeal if good and sufficient cause is shown.

12. (1) In the event of the Court ordering the printing of the record under the supervision of the Registrar of the Court appealed from, he shall dispatch to the Registrar of this Court unless otherwise directed by this Court, not less than 15 copies where the appeal raises a question as to the interpretation of the Constitution, and not less than 10 copies in other cases. In the event of the Record being printed in this Court the Registrar will fix the number of copies to be printed for the use of this Court.

(2) In all Cases involving a sentence of death the printed record shall be made ready and dispatched to this Court within a period of 60 days after the receipt of the intimation from the Registrar of this Court of the filing of the petition of appeal or of the order granting special leave to appeal.

13. As soon as the record is ready the Registrar concerned shall give notice thereof to the parties to the appeal, and where the record is prepared under the supervision of the Registrar of the Court appealed from, the said Registrar shall after service of the notice, send to the Registrar of this Court a certificate as to the date or dates on which the notice has been served.

 

Hearing of the Appeal

14. Each party who has entered appearance shall be entitled to two copies of the record for his own use.

15. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court the appeal shall be set down for hearing thirty days after the expiry of the time prescribed for entering appearance by the respondent.

16. The provisions of rule 11 of Order XVIII of the rules shall, so far as may be, apply to the parties in matters to which this Order applies.

17. (1) Due notice shall be given to the accused, where he is not represented, of the date fixed for the hearing of the appeal. The accused person may, if he so wishes present his case by submitting his arguments in writing and the same shall be considered at the hearing of the appeal.

(2) It shall not be necessary for an accused person in custody to be produced before the Court at the hearing unless the Court thinks fit in the interest of justice to direct him to be produced to enable him to argue his case or for other reasons.

18. Pending the disposal of any appeal under these rules the Court may order that the execution of the sentence or order appealed against be stayed on such terms as the Court may think fit.

19. After the appeal has been disposed of, the Registrar shall, with the utmost expedition, send a copy of the Court's judgment or order to the High Court or Tribunal concerned.

20. In criminal proceedings, no security for costs shall be required to be deposited, and no Court-fee, process fee, or search fee shall be charged, and an accused person shall not be required to pay copying charges except for copies other than the first.

21. Except where specifically otherwise provided in these rules, the provisions of this Order with necessary modifications and adaptations, shall apply to Statutory Appeals filed under any enabling Act or provision.