Section 138 N.I. Act - Revision against Conviction - Expeditious Disposal - Senior Citizen - Condition of Deposit of 1/4th of Cheque Amount is Vacated [SC JUDGMENT]

Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 - S.138 - Criminal P.C. 1973 - S.401 - High Court' s Powers of revisions - Revision against Conviction - Condition of deposit of 1/4th of the cheque amount - Senior Citizen - High Court to dispose of the Revision Petition expeditiously preferably within six months - the interim direction issued by the High Court for deposit of 1/4th of the cheque amount is vacated.

2018 (3) RCR (Criminal) 293 : 2018 (8) Scale 629 : (2018) 8 SCC 118

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

[KURIAN JOSEPH ] AND [MOHAN M. SHANTANAGOUDAR] JJ.

May 15, 2018.

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 747 OF 2018 [@ SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRL.) NO. 1628 OF 2017]

M V AMREETH Appellant(s)

VERSUS

K VENKATA KRISHNA & ANR. Respondent(s)

For Appellant(s) Mr. G. V. R. Choudary, Adv. Mr. K. Shivraj Choudhuri, AOR Mr. A. Chandra Sekhar, Adv. Ms. Ayushi Goel, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Manoj C. Mishra, AOR

J U D G M E N T

KURIAN, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellant is aggrieved since the High Court, while admitting the revision against the conviction in respect of an offence under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, imposed a condition of deposit of 1/4th of the cheque amount. This was in addition to the fine which the appellant had already remitted.

3. When the matter came up before this Court, on 02.03.2017, the following order was passed :-

“It is pointed out by the learned counsel for the petitioner and we have verified too that the sentence of fine was only Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) by the learned Magistrate, which was affirmed in the appeal and that the said amount of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) has already been remitted.No doubt, the Revisional Court has jurisdiction to impose appropriate conditions while suspending the sentence. However, having regard to the fact that the learned Magistrate while ordering the sentence has limited the fine to Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand), which has been paid also, we are of the view that the condition imposed by the High Court, at this stage, for suspension of sentence is not warranted, in the peculiar facts of this case.

Issue notice.

There will be stay of that part of the direction in the impugned order for deposit of 1/4th of the cheque amount and subject to other conditions in the order, the protection granted by the High Court will continue to operate until further orders.”

4. The learned counsel for the first respondent submits that he has no objection in allowing the appeal in case the Court could direct the High Court to dispose of the Revision Petition expeditiously. Accordingly, the interim direction issued by the High Court for deposit of 1/4th of the cheque amount is vacated. We request the High Court to dispose of Criminal Revision Case No. 89 of 2017 expeditiously and preferably within six months from today, in view of the fact that the first respondent is a senior citizen.

5. In view of the above, the appeal is disposed of.