Inherent Power of the High Court under Section 482 of CrPC to be Invoked on Oral Request

In exercising its jurisdiction, the High Court has the inherent power to invoke Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code without needing any formal application from the parties involved. This power, which is described as an “extraordinary inherent jurisdiction”, can be used both in substantive and procedural matters in both incidental and supplemental matters. This has been established through Supreme Court judgements such as Popular Muthiah v. State (2006) and Divine Retreat Centre v. State Of Kerala And Others (2008).

In the former judgement, it was established that High Courts may exercise their power suo motu and that the limitation of a formal application is not necessary to exercise such powers. This judgement also laid out some categories of cases where the inherent power should be exercised for quashing of a criminal proceeding against the accused. These included 'the want of sanction', 'allegations that do not constitute an offence', and 'evidence adduced that fails to prove the charges'.

The judgement of Divine Retreat Centre v. State of Kerala likewise established that the purpose of such practices is to prevent proceedings from becoming a gateway for harassment and abuse.

The court in this judgement noted that it would be a "sheer waste of public time and money" to allow such proceedings to continue if there was no material on the record for the court to reasonably convict the accused for any offence. Both these judgements thus demonstrate that the High Court has the inherent power to invoke Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code on oral request however it was said that the Hon’ble High Courts must be mindful of this power and must exercise it judiciously in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the justice system and to prevent proceedings from becoming a tool for abuse.

-Kunal Sinha

Kunal Sinha is a qualified lawyer based in New Delhi, India with expertise in the fields of civil litigation, commercial litigation and commercial contracts. He has had the privilege of acting for his clients in the Supreme Court of India, HighCourt of Delhi and District Courts in Delhi/Gurgaon. 

He can be contacted via email at 

(chambers.sinha@gmail.com) or by phone (+91 8287409593).