RIL can be prosecuted in secret documents case: HC
11 Oct 2010
The Delhi high court has last week cleared the way for the trial of Reliance Industries Ltd over the seizure of classified documents from its office in 1998, rejecting the company's plea that the case was time-barred.
RIL is facing criminal case under the Official Secrets Act for the alleged recovery of some secret documents during search of the office premise of V Balasubramanian, the then group president of Reliance Industries, in 1998.
A criminal case was filed but considering the sensitivity of the case, investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which registered a complaint in 2002.
The company had contended that the CBI failed to register the complaint within the time frame of three years, and as such it should not have been proceeded with.
However, the high court refused to accept the contention that 142 days' delay in registering the complaint could be a ground to quash the proceedings before the trial court.
Justice S N Dhingra accepted the CBI's plea that the delay in registering the complaint had occurred as it was seeking the opinion of the attorney general and solicitor general on whether the company can be made party to the case.