The Ahmedabad city civil & sessions court has directed another FIR to be filed against the fake judge Morris Samuel Christian, who operated a fraudulent court in Gandhinagar.
The Court has ordered an FIR to be filed for the accused passing a bogus ruling over the Daskroi-Shahwadi land worth more than ₹2,000 crore.
Morris issued illegal arbitration orders affecting over 100 acres of land and properties worth crores of rupees.
The Court observed, “Christian has argued for the continuation of the fraudulent criminal act and has continued his fraudulent activities as well. This suggests he has committed an organised crime. Therefore, the registrar is ordered to file an FIR against Morris Samuel and others associated with him.”
The Court also ordered to send a copy of its ruling to the urban development department, revenue department, home department, Ahmedabad collector, and the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
Morris Samuel Christian, who faces multiple criminal charges, established an illegal court and tribunal, and ‘ruled’ on land disputes — including those under the jurisdiction of Ahmedabad district. He charged his clients ₹30 lakh per ‘arbitration’, as per the police, and named various officials from the government and the Amdavad Municipal Corporation as the “opposing party”.
Karanj police had filed a complaint and launched an investigation.
The court noted, “Earlier, the Gujarat High Court had initiated contempt of court proceedings against Morris, in which the accused had also apologised to the High Court. The High Court had explicitly warned Morris not to engage in such activities.”
The Court also observed that “a complaint has been filed against Morris at Naranpura police station for impersonating a lawyer and committing fraud despite not being a legally qualified lawyer. Another complaint has been filed against Morris at Maninagar police station for the crime of committing fraud by acquiring possession of a house. Similarly, a complaint has also been filed at Chandkheda police station.”
The Court has also penalised Vincent Oliver Carpenter, the proposer, according to the order in this case, of ₹50,000.
Notably, the scam came to light when Christian issued an unauthorised arbitration award transferring government land in Paldi (Revenue Survey No. 306, Final Plot 32 of TP Scheme 6) to one Thakor Babuji Chhanaji.
To enforce this award, Babuji Thakor filed a civil application in the Sessions Court, showing the Collector as the opposing party.
Government advocates Haresh Shah and Vijay Sheth discovered irregularities in the application, and Justice JL Chovatiya declared Christian a bogus arbitrator.
The primary investigation revealed that Christian had appointed himself as an arbitrator without government consent in violation of legal procedure.
Investigators said that Christian’s fraudulent rulings affected at least 11 properties, with 10 cases still pending. Several government officials, including the collector, had already recorded some of these fraudulent awards in official revenue records.