Madhya Pradesh High Court
Khuzema Nadir vs Rishabh Kumar Jain on 22 May, 2024
Author: Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia
Bench: Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE GURPAL SINGH AHLUWALIA
ON THE 22nd OF MAY, 2024
MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 20848 of 2024
BETWEEN:-
1. KHUZEMA NADIR S/O
AHMED ALI NADIR,
AGED ABOUT 46 YEARS,
OCCUPATION:
BUSINESS R/O HOUSE
NO 306 DUTT AND
CHADDA APARTMENT
INFRONT OF GS
COLLEGE SOUTH CIVIL
LINES JABALPUR
(MADHYA PRADESH)
2. HUJAIFA NADIR S/O
AHMED ALI NADIR,
AGED ABOUT 44 YEARS,
OCCUPATION:
BUSINESS R/O HOUSE
NO.306, DUTT AND
CHADDA APARTMENT
INFRONT OF GS
COLLEGE, SOUTH CIVIL
LINES, JABALPUR
(MADHYA PRADESH)
.....PETITIONER
(BY SHRI SUNIL TIWARI - ADVOCATE)
AND
RISHABH KUMAR JAIN S/O
LATE S.C.JAIN, AGED
ABOUT 58 YEARS, R/O
HOUSE 998 INFRONT OF DN
JAIN COLLEGE WRIGHT
TOWN P.S. OMTI DISTRICT
JABALPUR (MADHYA
2
PRADESH)
.....RESPONDENTS
(NONE)
This application coming on for admission this day, the court passed the
following:
ORDER
It is submitted by counsel for applicant that without giving any opportunity of hearing, the trial Court by order dated 19.10.2022 has directed the applicants to pay 15% of the cheque amount by way of interim compensation as provided under Section 143-A of Negotiable Instruments Act.
It is submitted by counsel for applicants that provision of interim maintenance is directory in nature and while deciding the said application the Court has to take various aspects into consideration and thus, the opportunity to oppose the said application should have been granted to applicants.
Applicants have not filed the copy of complete order sheets of the Trial Court to show that copy of application was given on 19.10.2022 only and prior thereto he had never prayed for time to file reply of application filed under Section 143-A of Negotiable Instruments Act.
Since the trial is pending in the Court of J.M.F.C., Jabalpur, office is directed to requisition the original record of SCNIA No.1202/2021 today itself.
Call this case on today at 04:00 p.m. (G.S. AHLUWALIA) JUDGE 3 LATER ON :-
1. The original record of the trial court was received and it has been perused.
2. It was the contention of counsel for the applicant that copy of the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act was supplied on 19.10.2022 and in spite of the submission made by counsel for the applicants that he may be heard and he may be granted time to file reply, the trial Court did not grant time to the applicants to file reply and passed the order thereby directing the applicants to deposit 15% of interim compensation amount.
3. Since the aforesaid submission which was made by counsel for the applicants was slightly not in accordance with the settled procedure, therefore, this Court had called the original record from the original record.
It is clear that on 3.9.2022 an application under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act was filed and a direction was given by the trial Court to supply a copy of the same to the applicants and the case was fixed for 26.9.2022. On 26.9.2022 the applicants were absent and accordingly an application under section 317 of Cr.P.C. was filed which was allowed. But, one thing is clear. The applicants did not file their reply to the application under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act. On 19.10.2022 the impugned order was passed. The manner in which the order has been written, at the most this Court can say that it is not happily worded. Even the Presiding Judge did not put a short signature on the sentence which was subsequently added in handwriting.
4. Taking clue from the order dated 19.10.2022 an argument was developed by counsel for the applicants that copy of the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act was supplied on 4 19.10.2022 and, therefore, in the light of judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Rakesh Ranjan Shrivastava Vs. State of Jharkhand reported in (2024) 4 SCC 419, it was submitted that opportunity of hearing was not given to the applicants and the provision of section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act are directory in nature. It is further submitted that while passing an order under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the trial Court is expected to pass a reasoned order.
5. Considered the submissions made by counsel for the applicants.
6. So far as the contention of counsel for the applicants that copy of the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act was not supplied to the applicants on 3.9.2022 is concerned, the same is misconceived and is contrary to the record. From the record it is clear that copy of the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act which was marked as I.A.No.1/2022 was received by the counsel for the applicants on the very same day and the said application also bears the acknowledgement of receipt of said application. Once the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act was already received by the applicants on 3.9.2022 then it was required on their part to positively file their reply on the next date of listing.
7. On 26.9.2022 although the Presiding Judge was on leave but filing of the reply was permissible. Even the applicants were not present and accordingly an application under section 317 Cr.P.C. was filed. Thereafter, on 19.10.2022 also, the applicants did not file their reply and they sought time to file reply. Although, the trial Court should have rejected the prayer after assigning the reasons the order was written in a very vague and 5 confusing manner. As already pointed out, even the line which was inserted in handwriting also does not bear the short signatures of the Presiding Judge.
8. Be that whatever it may be.
9. It is true that the order dated 19.10.2022 with regard to supply of application under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act has not been properly mentioned but one thing is clear from the record that copy of the application was already supplied to the applicants on 3.9.2022 and in spite of the fact that they had full opportunity of 1 ½ months to file reply to the said application, the applicants did not file any reply. The applicants cannot claim that they should have been granted years together for filing reply to the application under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Thus, it is clear that although counsel for applicants had prayed for time to file reply, but the trial Court has not committed any material illegality by considering the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act on merits.
10. So far as the contention of counsel for the applicants that the application under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act should have been decided by assigning reasons is concerned, the said submission is in accordance with law. However, when the application is not opposed, then nothing was left with the trial Court to decide any controversial or disputed facts. Furthermore, the trial Court has awarded 15% of the cheque amount as an interim compensation. Furthermore, it appears that counsel for the applicants also did not argue verbally on the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
611. Once the application filed under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act had remained unopposed, then it was not necessary for the trial Court to assign any reason because in absence of any written or verbal objection, the trial Court was well within its right to treat to the allegations as true for the purpose of deciding an application under section 143A of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
12. As no illegality was committed by the trial Court, therefore, the order dated 19.10.2022 passed by JMFC Jabalpur in SC NIA No.1202/2021 and the order dated 22.3.2024 passed by third Addl. Sessions Judge, Jabalpur in Criminal Revision No.12/2023 are hereby affirmed although on different grounds.
13. Office is directed to immediately return back the record of the trial court.
14. The application fails and is hereby dismissed.
(G.S. AHLUWALIA) JUDGE HEMANT SARAF 2024.05.22 18:29:58 +05'30' HS