Jaipur: In a significant judgment, the Rajasthan High Court has quashed a CBI FIR, holding that a criminal case cannot continue when the very court order on which it was based has already been set aside. Reiterating the legal maxim Sublato Fundamento Cadit Opus—when the foundation is removed, the structure falls—the Court said that once the basis of the FIR no longer exists, the proceedings arising from it cannot survive.
The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand allowed two connected criminal miscellaneous petitions challenging the FIR, registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Jaipur, under the Passports Act, 1967 and offences under the Indian Penal Code relating to cheating, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy.
The FIR was registered following directions issued by a Single Bench of the High Court in a writ petition. However, the persons against whom the directions were issued were not made parties to the case or given an opportunity to be heard.
Later, a Division Bench set aside the Single Bench’s order and directed that the matter be heard afresh after hearing all concerned parties.
Despite the order being set aside, the CBI investigation continued and consequential actions were taken. The original writ petition was also later dismissed for failure to comply with the High Court’s directions.
The petitioners argued that since the FIR was based entirely on a court order that had already been set aside, it had no legal basis to continue.
Agreeing with the submission, the High Court held that the FIR had lost its very foundation once the earlier order was quashed. The Court observed that continuing the criminal proceedings in such circumstances would amount to an abuse of the legal process.
Quashing the FIR and all consequential proceedings, the Court made it clear that if the very basis of a criminal case no longer exists, the case itself cannot continue, reaffirming the principle behind the maxim Sublato Fundamento Cadit Opus.