• Competency to Take Cognizance

• Definition: Competency to Take Cognizance refers to the court's which has authority to take cognisance for a particular offence. The competency here refers to the Court which can directly entertain the matter or ‘the court of original jurisdiction’.

• Limitation: Section 213 of the BNSS (Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita), 2023 imposes a limitation in this regard, which prohibits the Court of Session to directly entertain the case, even though they are competent to try the offence, unless the cognisance is allowed by an express provision of law.

• Every case instituted before a Criminal Court alleging a “cognizable offence” or a “non-cognizable offence” will have to be scrutinized by the Court and the alleged offence will have to be taken cognizance of under Section 210 BNSS.

• Taking cognizance of an offence broadly means “taking judicial notice by a competent court of a cause or matter presented before it so as to decide whether there is any basis for initiating proceedings for judicial determination.” (Subramanian Swamy v. Manmohan Singh AIR 2012 SC 1185).

• The process of “taking cognizance of an offence” is a complex process involving careful application of the mind by the “presiding officer” of the Court concerned. The Magistrate or the Judge has to be satisfied that the “Police Report” or the “complaint” filed before him makes out the ingredients of the offence alleged. It is only after “taking cognizance of the offence”, can the Court issue process to the accused.

• Competency to Try

• Definition: "Competency to try" refers to the court's authority to conduct a trial for a particular offence. Once a court takes cognizance, it must also have the jurisdiction to try the case. This involves determining whether the case falls within the type of offences the court is empowered to hear, which could be a Magistrate's Court or a Sessions Court based on the severity of the alleged offence.

• Section 21 read with Column 6 of the First Schedule to the BNSS decides the competency as to whether it is a “Magistrate” or a “Court of Session” or a “Special Court” which has to try the offence.

• Chapter XIV of BNSS (Sections 197 to 209) decides which Magistrate or Court has the jurisdiction to conduct “inquiries” and “trial”. The primary rule under Section 197 BNSS is that the offence has to be “inquired into” and “tried” by that Court within whose “local jurisdiction” (territorial limits) the offence was committed.

• Going by the definition of “local jurisdiction” as contained in Section 2 (n) BNSS, the local area of a “Court” or “Magistrate” can even include the whole or any part of the State, as the State Government may, by notification specify. But, the local jurisdiction of Magistrates is fixed under Section 12 by the Chief Judicial Magistrate concerned, subject to the control of the appropriate High Court. Certain police stations are allotted to certain Magistrate Courts. By virtue of the fiction in Section 175 (1) BNSS read with Chapter XIV of BNSS, the jurisdiction of the police station and that of the Magistrate are co-extensive.