Companies Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide
Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 2013
Section 437 of Companies Act: Corporate Governance & Statutory Compliance
Official Bare Act Text
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The High Court may exercise, so far as may be applicable, all the powers conferred by Chapters XXIX and XXX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on a High Court, as if a Special Court within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the High Court were a Court of Session trying cases within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the High Court.
Statutory Defined Terms in this Section:(Click any term for official legal definition)
Section 437 provides that the High Court may exercise all powers of appeal and revision conferred by Chapters XXIX and XXX of the CrPC, 1973 over the Special Court as if it were a Court of Session.
High Court's Supervisory and Appellate Forum: Designates the High Court as the exclusive appellate and revisional forum against interlocutory or final orders of the Special Court.
Applicability of Criminal Procedure Code Chapters: Imports the entire appellate machinery of Chapter XXIX and revisional supervisory framework of Chapter XXX of CrPC (now Chapters XXXI and XXXII of BNSS, 2023).
Deeming Fiction of Court of Session: Treats the Special Court as a Court of Session within the local limits of the High Court's territorial jurisdiction for the purposes of appeals and revisions.
Key Landmark Precedents:
State of Maharashtra v. Som Nath Thapa, (1996) 4 SCC 659: Held that criminal revisional jurisdiction of the High Court over specialized sessions courts can be exercised to prevent abuse of process or miscarriage of justice at the stage of framing charges.
Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. v. CBI, (2018) 16 SCC 299: Emphasized that interlocutory revision against framing of charges in specialized criminal courts should be exercised sparingly and only in exceptional cases where patent lack of jurisdiction is demonstrated.
Radheshyam Kejriwal v. State of West Bengal, (2011) 3 SCC 581: Held that where civil adjudication exonerates an accused on merits, the High Court in revisional jurisdiction may quash criminal proceedings on identical facts.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:
When filing a criminal revision under Section 437 before the High Court against an order framing charges by the Special Court, establish that the prosecution complaint fails to disclose essential statutory ingredients of fraud or lacks mandatory sanction, justifying revisional intervention under Sections 397/401 CrPC.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 437
Section 437 provides that the High Court may exercise all powers of appeal and revision conferred by Chapters XXIX and XXX of the CrPC, 1973 over the Special Court as if it were a Court of Session.
When filing a criminal revision under Section 437 before the High Court against an order framing charges by the Special Court, establish that the prosecution complaint fails to disclose essential statutory ingredients of fraud or lacks mandatory sanction, justifying revisional intervention under Sections 397/401 CrPC.