Recall of summons in cheque dishonour cases is impermissible after process; challenge lies under inherent jurisdiction.

After a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act reaches the post-summons stage, the Magistrate has no power to recall the summons or return the complaint at the accused's instance by resorting to Sections 202, 203 or 245 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The earlier ruling in Adalat Prasad was followed: once process is issued, the summons order cannot be reviewed or recalled before the Magistrate, and any challenge to an allegedly vitiated summons order must be taken under Section 482 of the Code. Territorial jurisdiction concerns did not justify recall in this manner, and the complaint was required to proceed in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether, after issuance of summons in a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the Magistrate could recall the order issuing process and return the complaint on an application under Sections 202, 203 and 245 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and whether the proper remedy against such an order was a petition under Section 482 of the Code.

Analysis: The complaint had already crossed the pre-process stage contemplated by Sections 200, 202 and 203 of the Code, and the accused had been summoned under Section 204. At that stage, the Code did not contemplate a review or recall of the summons order at the instance of the accused by invoking Section 203. The earlier decision in Adalat Prasad was treated as governing the field and was followed to hold that, if the summons order was said to be vitiated, the aggrieved accused's remedy lay in invoking the inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code, not in seeking recall before the Magistrate under Sections 202, 203 or 245. The question of territorial jurisdiction could therefore not justify the Magistrate's recall of summons in the manner adopted.

Conclusion: The High Court's refusal to interfere was incorrect. The order recalling summons and returning the complaint was unsustainable, and the complaint was directed to be restored for disposal in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: After process is issued, a Magistrate has no power to recall the summons or revisit that order at the accused's instance under Section 203 of the Code; the proper remedy against an allegedly vitiated summons order is an application under Section 482 of the Code.

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