NI Act Proceedings Should Be Concluded Expeditiously Without Going Into Unnecessary Technicality: Allahabad High Court

The bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal observed thus given the Supreme Court’s directions issued in the case of In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases under Section 138 N.I. Act, 1881 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 508.

In this case, the Top Court had issued several directions in the suo motu case to deal with the pendency of cheque dishonour cases to reduce the pendency of cheque bounce cases.

The occasion for the HC to make observations as aforesaid arose while dealing with a plea filed by one Ram Dhari Pal seeking a direction to the Additional Civil Judge (J.D.) Ist/Judicial Magistrate, Jaunpur to conclude the trial in his complaint case filed u/s 138 NI Act within a stipulated period.

It was the case of the applicant-complainant that he had filed the complaint under the NI Act in the year 2022, but the trial proceedings are still over.

It was further submitted that as per Section 143(2) of N.I. Act, the trial for the offence under the NI Act should be conducted on a day-to-day basis and it is further provided u/s 143(3) that the trial should be concluded within six months from the date of filing of the complaint.

Taking note of the Supreme Court’s directions in the suo moto case as well as the mandate of Sections 138 & 143 of the NI Act, the High Court directed the Additional Civil Judge (J.D.) Ist/Judicial Magistrate, Jaunpur to conclude the trial of the complaint case expeditiously preferably within six months in accordance with the statutory provision of Sections 143(2) and 143(3) of the NI Act.

For the convenience of our readers, we are reproducing the operative directions issued by the Apex Court in the case of In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases under Section 138 N.I. Act, 1881 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 508:

1) The High Courts are requested to issue practice directions to the Magistrates to record reasons before converting trial of complaints under Section 138 of the Act from summary trial to summons trial.

2) Inquiry shall be conducted on receipt of complaints under Section 138 of the Act to arrive at sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused, when such accused resides beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court.

3) For the conduct of inquiry under Section 202 of the Code, evidence of witnesses on behalf of the complainant shall be permitted to be taken on affidavit. In suitable cases, the Magistrate can restrict the inquiry to examination of documents without insisting for examination of witnesses.

4) We recommend that suitable amendments be made to the Act for provision of one trial against a person for multiple offences under Section 138 of the Act committed within a period of 12 months, notwithstanding the restriction in Section 219 of the Code.

5) The High Courts are requested to issue practice directions to the Trial Courts to treat service of summons in one complaint under Section 138 forming part of a transaction, as deemed service in respect of all the complaints filed before the same court relating to dishonour of cheques issued as part of the said transaction.

6) Judgments of this Court in Adalat Prasad (supra) and Subramanium Sethuraman (supra) have interpreted the law correctly and we reiterate that there is no inherent power of Trial Courts to review or recall the issue of summons. This does not affect the power of the Trial Court under Section 322 of the Code to revisit the order of issue of process in case it is brought to the court's notice that it lacks jurisdiction to try the complaint.

7) Section 258 of the Code is not applicable to complaints under Section 138 of the Act and findings to the contrary in Meters and Instruments (supra) do not lay down correct law. To conclusively deal with this aspect, amendment to the Act empowering the Trial Courts to reconsider/recall summons in respect of complaints under Section 138 shall be considered by the Committee constituted by an order of this Court dated 10.03.2021.

8) All other points, which have been raised by the Amici Curiae in their preliminary report and written submissions and not considered herein, shall be the subject matter of deliberation by the aforementioned Committee. Any other issue relating to expeditious disposal of complaints under Section 138 of the Act shall also be considered by the Committee.

Case title - Ram Dhari Pal vs. State Of U.P. And 2 Others 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 390 [APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 35789 of 2023]

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 390

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