Himachal Pradesh High Court
@ Parma vs Inder Dev on 17 May, 2022
Bench: Vivek Singh Thakur
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA.
.
ON THE 17th DAY OF MAY, 2022
BEFORE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIVEK SINGH THAKUR
CRIMINAL REVISION NO. 167 OF 2022
Between:-
INDER DEV SON OF SHRI PARAM DEV
@ PARMA, RESIDENT OF VILLAGE
DHAMU (NAGDHAR), PO DURI, TEHSIL
SADAR, DISTRICT MANDI HP
....PETITIONER
(BY SHRI RAVINDER SINGH JASWAL, ADVOCATE)
AND
SHER SINGH, SON OF SHRI GUR SINGH,
RESIDENT OF VILLAGE PIHANI PO SAINJ,
TEHSIL CHACHYOT, DISTRICT MANDI
HIMACHAL PRADESH
...RESPONDENT
(BY SH.INDERJEET SINGH NARWAL, ADVOCATE)
Whether approved for reporting?
This Petition coming on for admission this day, this Court passed the
following:
JUDGMENT
Present revision petition has been filed
assailing judgment dated 27.12.2021 passed by learned
Sessions Judge, Mandi, District Mandi (HP), in Cr. Appeal
No.41/2021/16, whereby judgment/order dated
9.8.2016/24.08.2016 passed by learned Judicial Magistrate
First Class, Chachiot at Gohar, Mandi, District Mandi H.P., in
Complaint case No. 20-I/2010/41-III/2010 titled Sher Singh
vs. Inder Dev, convicting and sentencing the
.
petitioner/accused to undergo simple imprisonment for a
period of six months and to pay compensation of
Rs.5,00,000/- to the complainant, has been affirmed.
2. Accused/petitioner Inder Dev and
complainant/respondent Sher Singh are present in person,
who have been identified by their learned counsel. Their
statements, on oath, have been recorded and placed on
the file.
3. Complainant/respondent Sher Singh, in his
statement recorded on oath, has stated that in present
case, Court has awarded compensation of Rs.5 lacs,
however, the matter has been settled and he has received
Rs.3,50,000/-. He has further stated that he has agreed to
withdraw the complaint against the payment of
Rs.3,50,000/-, which has been received by him as a full and
final settlement of claim and now nothing is due to be
recovered and, therefore, he has prayed for permission to
withdraw the complaint for compounding the case.
4. The petitioner/accused, vide separate
statement placed on record, has endorsed the statement
made by complainant/respondent as true and correct and
has further deposed that he has suffered losses in business
and therefore, he has prayed for imposing lesser
compounding fee.
.
6. Both complainant as well as
petitioner/accused have stated that they have deposed in
the Court and have compromised the matter out of their
free will, consent, and also without any kind of threat,
coercion or pressure etc.
7. Consequently,
to respondent/complainant
permitted to withdraw the complaint and matter is
compounded and complaint arising out of dishonour of
is
cheque under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act is
treated to be withdrawn and judgments of conviction and
sentence passed by learned Courts below are quashed and
set aside. Petitioner/accused is acquitted of the accusation
framed against him.
8. Petitioner has also prayed for imposing lesser
amount of compounding fee instead of 15% of cheque
amount on the ground that he has suffered losses in
business and he is not in a position to deposit 15% of
cheque amount as compounding fee. It is submitted by
counsel for the petitioner that considering the ratio of law
laid down by the Apex Court in Damodar S.Prabhu vs.
Sayed Babalal H. (2010)5 SCC 663, the Apex Court in
Madhya Pradesh Legal Services Authority vs.
Prateek Jain and another (2014)10 SCC 690 wherein it
has been held that Court may reduce compounding fee for
.
given facts and circumstances of a particular case, present
case is a fit case for exemption of compounding fee.
9. In present case, the amount of compensation
has been awarded to the tune of Rs.5,00,000/-but the
matter has been compounded and settled against the
petitioner/accused
r has to
payment of Rs. 3,50,000/- to the complainant.
paid Rs.3,50,000/-
complainant for which complainant has stated that he has
As the
the
received Rs.3,50,000/- as a full and final settlement of
claim and nothing is due to be recovered from petitioner
and petitioner has also prayed for imposing lesser
compounding fee instead of 15% of the cheque amount, I
am of the opinion that it is an appropriate case to impose
lesser compounding fee. Therefore, petitioner is directed to
deposit compounding fee of Rs.15,000/- instead of 15% of
cheque amount, with the H.P. State Legal Services
Authority, Shimla within a period of four weeks from today.
10. After depositing compounding fee, petitioner
shall place a copy of receipt of deposit of compounding fee
on record of this petition. In case of default in depositing
compounding fee/cost with H.P. State Legal Services
Authority, Shimla within four weeks from today, the
consequential action shall follow to recover the said amount as
fine under Cr.P.C.
.
11. Petition stands disposed of, in the aforesaid
terms, so also the pending application(s), if any.
The parties are permitted to produce copy of
order downloaded from the High Court website before the
concerned authority and the said authority shall not insist
for certified copy of the order, however, it may verify the
order from the High Court website or otherwise.
Copy of this judgment be sent to H.P. State
Legal Services Authority, Shimla for compliance.
May 17, 2022 (Vivek Singh Thakur)
(ms) Judge
