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NON-REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION 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)

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.

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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

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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.

.......................J.               [ KURIAN JOSEPH ]  

.......................J.               [ MOHAN M. SHANTANAGOUDAR ]  

New Delhi; May 15, 2018.

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ITEM NO.38               COURT NO.5               SECTION II                S U P R E M E  C O U R T  O F  I N D I A                        RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 1628 of 2017 M V AMREETH                                        Appellant(s)                                 VERSUS K VENKATA KRISHNA & ANR.                   Respondent(s) Date : 15-05-2018 This matter was called on for hearing today. CORAM :  HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KURIAN JOSEPH          HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MOHAN M. SHANTANAGOUDAR 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                      

   UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following                              O R D E R

Leave granted.  The  appeal  is  disposed  of  in  terms  of  the  signed

non-reportable Judgment.   Pending Interlocutory Applications, if any, stand disposed of.

(JAYANT KUMAR ARORA)                              (RENU DIWAN)    COURT MASTER                                ASSISTANT REGISTRAR

(Signed non-reportable Judgment is placed on the file)