The Apex Court on 18.02.2019 , in C.B.I. New Delhi v B.B. Agarwal & Ors. etc . , had dismissed the appeals that had been made against the High Court of Delhi’s order and judgment which permitted the respondent’s criminal petitions under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 while quashing the criminal proceedings in the CBI Case that had been pending before the Special Judge, Tis Hazari, Delhi .

FACTS:
The CBI noticed that the respondents (two Limited Companies) had come out with public issue of their own companies and while executing the public issue, they had been alleged to have defrauded the Punjab National Bank (PNB), in terms of an amount of fifteen crore rupees approximately.
A criminal case was logged against the Directors of the respondent companies as well as against PNB officials, after an investigation being carried out by the CBI with regard to the fraudulence. under Section 120B read with Sections 409, 420, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 13(2) read with Section 13(i) (c) and (d) of the 3 Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 .
Two civil suits were filed by PNB and its Directors before the Bombay High Court to recover recovery the dues that were outstanding and to settle the accounts that were later on transferred to the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Mumbai for the trial. However, while the civil suits were pending. Reconciliation was reached between the parties through the entering upon a onetime settlement.
A consent application was also filed by parties for disposing of the OA with regard to the settlement terms which was accepted by the DRT through an order while being dismissed of accordingly.
As per the terms of the settlement order, the respondents paid an amount of Rs.12.20 crores to PNB. Petitions were filed by the respondents before the High Court of Delhi under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. for quashing the criminal proceedings that was filed against them.
The High Court by its order permitted the petitions while quashing the criminal proceedings, that subsequently led to the filing of aforesaid appeals by CBI in the Apex Court.

ISSUE: Was it justified on the part of the High Court to allow the respondents petition filed under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C while quashing the criminal proceedings?

DECISION HELD BY THE APEX COURT:
The Apex Court while dismissing of the appeals upheld that decision of the High Court upon the account resettlements, securing the consent decree from DRT by the parties and paying the full amount, further concluding that no issue of criminality issue has been found relevant .

Judgment:

[embeddoc url=”https://www.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2009/24004/24004_2009_Judgement_18-Feb-2019.pdf” download=”all”]