Summons case process cannot be recalled after plea is recorded; challenge lies through inherent jurisdiction, not discharge.

In a summons case, once process has been issued and the accused's plea is recorded, the Magistrate has no statutory power to recall the summons or discharge the accused on the ground of a defective notice. The procedure under Chapter XX of the Code of Criminal Procedure does not provide a discharge stage comparable to Section 239. Any challenge to the summoning order at that stage lies, if at all, before the High Court under its inherent jurisdiction, and not by recall before the Magistrate.

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Issues: Whether, in a summons case after the accused's plea has been recorded, the Magistrate can recall the process and discharge the accused on the ground that the statutory notice was defective, and whether the proper remedy against such an order lies under the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court.

Analysis: A summons case proceeds under Chapter XX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and does not contemplate a stage of discharge comparable to Section 239 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Once process has been issued under Section 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the plea of the accused is recorded under Section 252 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the Magistrate cannot review or recall that order in the absence of any statutory power to do so. The earlier view permitting recall of process was not accepted as correct in the later binding precedent, and the only available remedy against an allegedly improper order at that stage is to invoke the High Court's inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Conclusion: The Magistrate had no jurisdiction to recall the summons or discharge the accused in the summons case after recording the plea, and the challenge to the process had to be pursued, if at all, under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Ratio Decidendi: In a summons case, after appearance and recording of plea, the criminal court has no power to recall process or discharge the accused unless the statute expressly confers such power; the remedy against an allegedly unlawful summoning order is the High Court's inherent jurisdiction.

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