Final compensation may reach a deceased accused's estate, but interim compensation under Section 143A cannot survive death before trial ends.

Final compensation arising from a concluded Section 138 proceeding may be recovered from the estate of a deceased accused because the liability is treated as a recoverable monetary obligation under the criminal recovery machinery. Interim compensation under Section 143A, however, is provisional and contingent on the trial's outcome; if the accused dies before adjudication is complete, that order loses its operative basis and cannot be enforced against the estate. The distinction turns on whether the amount has crystallised into a final liability or remains dependent on the result of the prosecution.

---

---

Issues: (i) whether compensation awarded on conclusion of a proceeding under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 can be recovered from the estate of a deceased accused; (ii) whether interim compensation awarded under Section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 can be recovered from the estate of a deceased accused who died before the conclusion of the trial.

Issue (i): whether compensation awarded on conclusion of a proceeding under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 can be recovered from the estate of a deceased accused.

Analysis: The statutory scheme treats fines and recoverable monetary liabilities under the Negotiable Instruments Act as falling within the recovery machinery of Section 421 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, read with Section 25 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 and Section 70 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. On that basis, a liability that has become final upon conclusion of the proceeding can attach to the estate inherited by the legal heirs.

Conclusion: Recovery of such concluded compensation is permissible against the estate of the deceased accused.

Issue (ii): whether interim compensation awarded under Section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 can be recovered from the estate of a deceased accused who died before the conclusion of the trial.

Analysis: Interim compensation under Section 143A is provisional and is expressly tied to the result of the trial, including the obligation of repayment if the drawer is acquitted. Since it is not a final crystallised liability and no adjudication on guilt or innocence can follow upon the death of the accused, the interim order loses its operative basis when the trial terminates by reason of death.

Conclusion: Such interim compensation cannot be recovered from the estate of the deceased accused.

Final Conclusion: The revisional challenge fails because the impugned order refusing recovery of interim compensation was upheld, while the broader distinction between final compensation and interim compensation was affirmed.

Ratio Decidendi: A final monetary liability arising from a concluded prosecution may be recovered from the estate of a deceased accused, but interim compensation that remains contingent on the outcome of the trial cannot survive the accused's death before adjudication is complete.

---