Cheque Dishonour| Can't Invoke Inherent Powers To Set Aside Conviction & Sentence At Post-Revision Stage: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently held that the inherent powers of a High Court under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita cannot be invoked to set aside a conviction and sentence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act once the High Court had already finally decided the case in revision.The plea before Justice C.S. Dias was preferred by a private company and its Managing Director. They were convicted and sentenced for the offence under Section 138 NI Act. This was concurrently confirmed in appeal before the Sessions Court and in revision before the High Court.The petitioners claimed that they were unaware of the dismissal of the revision and it was only when the Managing Director (2nd petitioner) was arrested and remanded to judicial custody that they learned about the same. Immediately thereafter, he settled the dispute with the complainant/2nd respondent. At this stage, the petitioners are before the High Court seeking to set aside the conviction and sentence by invoking the inherent powers under Section 528 BNSS. They relied on a decision by the Supreme Court in Gian Chand Garg v. Harpal Singh and Another, wherein it was held that conviction under NI Act cannot sustain once a settlement is entered between the parties. Reliance was also placed on the High Court decision in Mubasheer v. State of Kerala (2025) wherein the Court had quashed the conviction and sentence after post-revisional stage.However, the Court distinguished these two cases on facts and referred to three decisions of the Division Bench, where the position was made clear that inherent powers cannot be exercised to quash further proceedings at post-revisional stage.It held:“In light of the authoritative pronouncements settling the legal question, there is no doubt that, once this Court finally decides a criminal revision petition, the inherent powers cannot be invoked to set aside the conviction and sentence.” The Court thus found that the present petition was not maintainable and dismissed it. It also made it clear that the petitioners are at liberty to pursue other remedies provided under law.Case No: Crl.MC No. 11063 of 2025Case Title: Fifa Builders Pvt. Ltd. and Anr. State of Kerala and Anr.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 844Counsel for the petitioners: M.S. Aneer, S. Rajeev, V. Vinay, Sarath K.P., Anilkumar C.R., K.S. Kiran Krishnan, Dipa V., Akash Cherian Thomas, Azad Sunil, Maheswar P., T.P. Aravind, and Akshara S.Counsel for the respondents: Seetha S. – Sr. Public Prosecutor, C.S. Hrithwik – Sr. PP, Asha BabuClick to Read/Download Order

Cheque Dishonour| Can't Invoke Inherent Powers To Set Aside Conviction & Sentence At Post-Revision Stage: Kerala High Court

K. Salma Jennath

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