Recently, Supreme Court held that a magistrate does not have power under Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code to get the revenue records corrected after an inquiry.

In the said matter, the division bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah allowed an appeal against the orders of the High Court which has set aside the sessions court order which had stayed the magistrate court's order.

Appellant, Sanjay Kumar, argued that the magistrate, in the proceedings under Section 145 of the CrPC, formed a team to conduct a suitable local investigation in accordance with Section 148 of the CrPC.

To this, the Magistrate proceeded to issue directions to the said team, constituted by the previous order, to get the revenue records including the possession, title documents and also the maps examined and get the same clarified and corrected, if there was any discrepancy, and submit the appropriate report. 

The appellant contested the order in front of the sessions court, which issued a temporary order, halting the execution and enforcement of the original order. Nevertheless, the Madhya Pradesh High Court overturned the sessions court's decision based on a petition filed under Section 482 of the CrPC

As the results, the orders of the Magistrate became operative.

The Counsel for appelant submitted that the Magistrate, in proceedings under Section 145 of CrPC, could not have inter-meddled with the revenue records nor could have issued the said directions, as contained in its order.

He additionally contended that the process for rectifying revenue records (Khasra/Maps) falls under the jurisdiction of the revenue authorities or the Competent Court as per the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code.

Agreeing to the contention, the bench said, "We, accordingly, find the order of the Magistrate to be beyond the scope of proceedings under Section 145 CrPC. We, accordingly, deem it appropriate to allow the appeal, set aside the impugned order of the High Court and as also the order of magistrate".

The Court directed that the ''Pending proceedings of Magistrate will continue to be taken to the logical conclusion in accordance with law. It also disposed of the revision filed before the sessions court.''