SHILLONG, March 11: The High Court of Meghalaya on Tuesday said it is a matter of surprise that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is clamouring for speedy trial but sitting over its list of witnesses to be examined without finalising it.
The court made the observation during a hearing on the 2008 “scam” in the appointment of teachers.
DSGI N Mozika had submitted that the prosecution be allowed to continue with the examination of witnesses for speedy trial.
In an order, the single bench court of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji said, “It is a matter of surprise that from early December 2024, the CBI is sitting over its list of witnesses to be examined without finalising it and yet clamouring for speedy trial.”
Mozika submitted that the prosecution prepared a list of 492 witnesses and 28 of them have already been examined.
“By an earlier order, to ensure a speedy, fair and non-dilatory trial, I had observed that the number of prosecution witnesses be reduced and restricted to those whose testimony would be required to prove the case of the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt and unnecessary witnesses be left out…
“Today, learned counsel submits that the prosecution has decided to omit 200 witnesses and examine the remaining 292, of which, 28 have already been examined. The proposal of the prosecution is awaiting approval from the CBI headquarters in New Delhi,” Chief Justice Mukerji said in the order.
The court said its first order to this effect was made on December 9, 2024 and since the list of witnesses could not be decided upon by the CBI, the matter was further adjourned on February 20, 2025 to this day.
“For a fair and speedy trial, it is essential for the accused to know the exact names of witnesses who would be examined for the prosecution to enable it to prepare its defence. In those circumstances, today this Court proceeds to hear the main application under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code for quashing of the proceedings,” the court said.
It ordered that the trial court will suitably adjourn the criminal proceedings to enable the CBI to furnish the final list of witnesses to be examined and when such list is examined, the trial court may proceed with further examination of witnesses and the trial.
“S. Khurshid, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the accused No. 1, opens his arguments in support of the proceedings under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code taken up by his client. His arguments are not concluded,” the court said.
The next hearing has been fixed on April 9, 2025.
