Section 311 CrPC recall requires essential evidence, not repeated cross-examination or delay in a cheque bounce complaint.

Section 311 CrPC permits recall or further cross-examination only when the additional evidence is essential to a just decision, and the power must be used with circumspection. In a Section 138 NI Act complaint, a request based on change of counsel and repetition of points already covered in earlier cross-examination was rejected because service of notice had already been addressed, the objection on authority to institute the complaint no longer survived after substitution of the bank's authorised representative, and the application appeared to be a delaying tactic rather than a genuine effort to fill an evidentiary gap.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to recall and further cross-examine the complainant witness under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

Analysis: The power under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is wide and may be invoked to secure the ends of justice, but it is to be exercised with circumspection only when the evidence sought is essential to a just decision. The request for further cross-examination was founded on a change of counsel and on two points already addressed in the earlier cross-examination. The service of notice had already been put to the witness, and the objection regarding authority to institute the complaint did not survive once the bank's authorised representative had already been substituted by order of the trial court. The application was also found to be a delaying tactic and not a genuine request to fill any evidentiary gap essential to the adjudication of the case.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to recall the witness, and the challenge to the dismissal of the Section 311 application failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A witness may be recalled under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure only where the further evidence is essential to a just decision, and not when the request is made merely because of a change of counsel or to prolong the trial.

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