INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Vijayendra Pratap Singh, Asif Ahmed, Bhanu Jindal and Jitesh Lakra, AZB & Partners
national Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), which enable member states to share and access data on crimes and criminals as well as offer a range of tech - nical and operational support. Additionally, India has bilateral treaties providing for mutual legal assistance, information sharing and extradition. The requests for service of such judicial documents outside India are processed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which examines the request upon receipt to ensure that it is compliant with the provi - sions of any bilateral or multilateral treaty or any other international convention to which both India and the receiving cosuntry are signatories. It also examines the summons request to verify compliance with Indian law and the laws of the foreign recipient country. The request is then sent through the Ministry of External Affairs to the “Central Authority” of the reciprocating country. Service of summons is ultimately carried out in accordance with the laws and procedures of the requested country. A decree obtained by a petitioner based on a claim of fraud in contractual disputes may be executed either by the court which passed it or by the court to which it is sent for execution. Order XXI of the CPC prescribes the procedure for executing decrees in India. Courts have held that all execution petitions must be dis - posed of within six months of their filing, failing which an executing court must record the reasons for delay. Foreign decrees may also be enforced in India pro - vided they satisfy the test of finality under Section 13 of the CPC. Under Section 44A of the CPC, decrees of superior courts of a reciprocating territory are execut - able in India as decrees passed by an Indian district court. If the decree is passed by a non-reciprocating territory, the procedure under Indian law is to insti - tute a civil suit seeking recognition and, thereafter, enforcement of the foreign decree. Similarly, a domestic arbitral award under the A&C Act is enforceable as a court decree under Section 5. Enforcement 5.1 Methods of Enforcement Civil Proceedings
36, subject to challenges under Section 34. A for - eign award may be enforced in India where the court is satisfied that it fulfils the conditions provided for in Sections 44, 48 and 57 of the A&C Act. Such an executable foreign award is deemed to be a decree of the court. Criminal Proceedings While cognisance of criminal fraud can only be taken by an Indian court exercising criminal jurisdiction, investigations may be conducted by agencies exer - cising powers under the BNSS, including state police, and officers of special divisions such as the Economic Offence Wing and CBI. Special multidisciplinary agen - cies have also been given powers to investigate fraud under specific statutes – ie, the SFIO to investigate fraud under the Companies Act, and the ED to inves - tigate the predicate offence of fraud under the PMLA. In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court in RK Gupta v Union of India (2023:DHC:9243) held that the SFIO, an investigating agency under the Companies Act, has the power to investigate offences under the Indian Penal Code (now BNS) in addition to the power to investigate offences under the Companies Act. How - ever, on appeal, even though the Supreme Court of India refused to entertain a challenge against the High Court judgment, it did observe that, since the issue as to whether SFIO inspectors are “police officers” under the CrPC (now BNSS) did not directly arise for consideration in said case, the High Court judgment cannot be treated as a precedent in this regard. In a recent decision, the Karnataka High Court has held that two parallel investigations by the SFIO and CBI arising out of the same set of facts is permissible. This has been challenged before the Supreme Court, where the issue is presently pending adjudication. Additionally, to secure the presence of an accused, a criminal court may issue bailable or non-bailable warrants. In serious cases of fraud, where accused persons may be evading arrest, the executive can issue Look-Out Circulars (LOCs) to alert immigra - tion authorities to inform law enforcement agencies if such an accused person is found to be leaving India or even travelling into India. Issuance of LOCs, however, does not automatically lead to arrest; it only results
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