Court pulls up DRI for filing appeal without Centre's approval

DRI's move to file an appeal against the sentence awarded to four convicts in a case without taking permission from the Centre has drawn flak from a Delhi court which said the agency was "trying to achieve something" which statute does not permit.
Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh dismissed the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence's plea, observing that it was not maintainable as the agency was "repeatedly doing this" while it should have been done in a manner prescribed by the statute.
"It is apparent that by way of this application, the appellant (DRI) is only trying to achieve something indirectly which the statute does not permit to be done directly," the judge said, adding, "One could have appreciated that a single appeal had been filed without such direction or approval under a bonafide mistake but most certainly not repeatedly."

DRI had filed an appeal against the trial court order which had convicted the four accused under provisions of the Customs Act and Gold Control Act and had sentenced them to the period of imprisonment already undergone by them during the pendency of the case.
The agency had prayed for enhancement of sentence, contending that it was insufficient.
During the pendency of appeal, when the court asked DRI's counsel to produce the approval of central government to file the appeal against the order on sentence, he conceded that no such approval was obtained.

The counsel then moved an application to treat the appeal as revision petition and cited various Supreme Court verdicts to buttress his arguments saying it can be done under the law.

"It has almost become a practice to file such appeals without the direction/approval of the central government and then to place reliance on the Supreme Court judgement with a prayer to the court to treat the appeal as a revision," the court noted.
Rejecting the contention of DRI for treating the appeal as a revision petition, it said, "Where a statute prescribes for a particular thing to be done in a particular manner, it should be done in that manner alone and no other manner."
The court said as per law, such appeal can only be filed upon the direction or prior approval of the Centre.

"Thus, the present appeal could only have been filed under the direction or approval of the central government. In the absence of any such direction or approval, this appeal stands filed unauthorisedly, rendering it illegal," it said.