TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (4) TMI 546
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....confirmed judgment dated 30.09.2015, rendered by Special Judicial Magistrate No.3, Udaipur (for short, 'learned trial Court'). The learned trial Court, by its verdict dated 30.09.2015, indicted accused-petitioner for offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short, 'Act') and handed down sentence of two years' simple imprisonment. Besides imprisonment, the learned trial Court has also ordered that accused-petitioner should pay compensation to the complainant under Section 357 Cr.P.C. to the tune to Rs. 50,000/-. Being aggrieved by the same, petitioner approached learned appellate Court but his that effort did not fructify to his advantage and the learned appellate Court dismissed his appeal. This sort of situati....
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....As per Section 147 of the Act, every offence punishable under the Act is compoundable notwithstanding anything contained in the Cr.P.C. While it is true that the offence is compoundable but a pivotal question, which has emerged for consideration, is whether revisional powers can be exercised by this Court to compound the offence under Section 138 of the Act after conviction of the petitioner by appellate Court. The legal position in this behalf was fluid until the judgment rendered in Damodar S. Prabhu Vs. Sayed Babalal H. [(2010) 5 SCC 663] by the Supreme Court. In the said verdict, Supreme Court has examined the provisions of Section 138 and 147 of the Act threadbare and observed that compensatory aspect of the remedy should be given prio....
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....he legislative intent was to provide a strong criminal remedy in order to deter the worryingly high incidence of dishonour of cheques. While the possibility of imprisonment up to two years provides a remedy of a punitive nature, the provision for imposing a `fine which may extent to twice the amount of the cheque' serves a compensatory purpose. What must be remembered is that the dishonour of a cheque can be best described as a regulatory offence that has been created to serve the public interest in ensuring the reliability of these instruments. The impact of this offence is usually confined to the private parties involved in commercial transactions." While switching on to examine Section 147 of the Act, Supreme Court has observed that....
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....r Article 136 of the Constitution." It is evident that the permissibility of the compounding of an offence is linked to the perceived seriousness of the offence and the nature of the remedy provided. On this point we can refer to the following extracts from an academic commentary [Cited from: K.N.C. Pillai, R.V. Kelkar's Criminal Procedure, Fifth Edn. (Lucknow: Eastern Book Company, 2008) at p. 444]: "17.2 Compounding of offences,- A crime is essentially a wrong against the society and the State. Therefore, any compromise between the accused person and the individual victim of the crime should not absolve the accused from criminal responsibility. However, where the offences are essentially of a private nature and relatively not quit....
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....elines, the Court held: With regard to the progression of litigation in cheque bouncing cases, the learned Attorney General has urged this Court to frame guidelines for a graded scheme of imposing costs on parties who unduly delay compounding of the offence. It was submitted that the requirement of deposit of the costs will act as a deterrent for delayed composition, since at present, free and easy compounding of offences at any stage, however belated, gives an incentive to the drawer of the cheque to delay settling the cases for years. An application for compounding made after several years not only results in the system being burdened but the complainant is also deprived of effective justice. In view of this submission, we direct that t....
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....t acknowledging factum of compromise. The complete text of affidavit of complainant dated 22nd of March, 2018, in vernacular, reads as under: The written compromise is duly verified by Deputy Registrar (Judl.) of the Court today. Therefore, applying the ratio decidendi of Damodar S.Prabhu (supra) and the guidelines framed therein, on the strength of compromise being arrived at between petitioner and the complainant, I feel persuaded to exercise revisional jurisdiction for doing real and substantial justice in the matter for the administration of which alone the Courts exist. Accordingly, I prefer to give priority to the compensatory aspect of remedy over the punitive aspect in the matter in the wake of settlement of dispute and compromise....