9911796707
TMI Blog2013 (8) TMI 488X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inancial Corporation for financial assistance and facilities. The Corporation had accepted the requests made by the Companies and granted financial assistance to the first three of the four companies mentioned above. Several cheques towards repayment of the amount borrowed by the appellant in the name of the above companies were issued in favour of the Haryana Financial Corporation which on presentation were dishonoured by the banks concerned for insufficiency of funds. Consequently, the Corporation instituted complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against the appellant in his capacity as the Director of the borrowing companies. These complaints were tried by Judicial Magistrates at Hissar culminating in the conviction of the appellant and sentence of imprisonment which ranged between 6 months in some cases to one year in some others besides imposition of different amounts of fine levied in each complaint case and a default sentence in the event of non payment of amount awarded in each one of those cases. 4. Aggrieved by his conviction and the sentence in the cases filed against him the appellant preferred appeals which were heard and dismissed by the Addit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate of Punjab v. Madan Lal (2009) 5 SCC 238. 8. Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with situations where an offender who is already undergoing a sentence of imprisonment is sentenced on a subsequent conviction to imprisonment or imprisonment for life. It provides that such imprisonment or imprisonment for life shall commence at the expiration of the imprisonment to which he has been previously sentenced unless the Court directs that the subsequent sentence shall run concurrently with such previous sentence. Section 427 may at this stage be extracted: "427. Sentence on offender already sentenced for another offence - (1) when an person already undergoing sentence of imprisonment is sentenced on a subsequent conviction to imprisonment or imprisonment for life, such imprisonment or imprisonment for life shall commence at the expiration of the imprisonment to which he has been previously sentenced unless the Court directs that the subsequent sentence shall run concurrently with such previous sentence. Provided that where a person who has been sentenced to imprisonment by an order under Section 122 in default of furnishing security is, whilst undergoing such sentence ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s committed, and the fact situation in which the question of concurrent running of the sentences arises. High Courts in this country have, therefore, invoked and exercised their discretion to issue directions for concurrent running of sentence as much as they have declined such benefit to the prisoners. For instance a direction for concurrent running of the sentence has been declined by the Gujarat High Court in Sumlo @ Sumla Himla Bhuriya and Ors. v. State of Gujarat and Ors. 2007 Crl.L.J. 612 that related to commission of offences at three different places resulting in three different prosecutions before three different Courts. The High Court observed: "The rule of 'single transaction' even if stretched to any extent will not bring the cases aforesaid under the umbrella of 'single transaction' rule and therefore, this application fails. The application is rejected." 11. Similarly a direction for concurrent running of sentence has been declined by the same High Court in State of Gujarat v. Zaverbhai Kababhai 1996 Crl.L.J. 1296 which related to an offence of rape committed at different places resulting in conviction in each one of those offences in different prose ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the direction of the High Court for the sentences to run concurrently. That too was a case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The State was aggrieved of the direction that the sentences shall run concurrently and had appealed to this Court against the same. This Court, however, declined interference with the order passed by the High Court and upheld the direction issued by the High Court. 15. In conclusion, we may say that the legal position favours exercise of discretion to the benefit of the prisoner in cases where the prosecution is based on a single transaction no matter different complaints in relation thereto may have been filed as is the position in cases involving dishonour of cheques issued by the borrower towards repayment of a loan to the creditor. 16. Applying the above test to the 15 cases at hand we find that the cases against the appellant fall in three distinct categories. The transactions forming the basis of the prosecution relate to three different corporate entities who had either entered into loan transactions with the State Financial Corporation or taken some other financial benefit like purchase of a cheque from the appellant that was on p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted to the substantive sentence only. The sentence which the appellant has been directed to undergo in default of payment of fine/compensation shall not be affected by this direction. We do so because the provisions of Section 427 of the Cr.P.C. do not, in our opinion, permit a direction for the concurrent running of the substantive sentences with sentences awarded in default of payment of fine/compensation. 18. In the result, these appeals succeed but only in part and to the following extent: 1) Substantive sentences awarded to the appellant by the Courts of Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Hissar and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hissar, in Criminal complaint cases No.269-II/97; No.549-II/97; No.393- II/97; No.371-II/97; No.372-II/97; No.373-II/97; No.877-II/96; No.880- II/96; No.878-II/96; No.876-II/96; No.879-II/96; No.485-II/96 relevant to the loan transaction between Haryana Financial Corporation and Arawali Tubes shall run concurrently. 2) Substantive sentences awarded to the appellant by the Court of Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Hissar in Criminal complaint cases No.156- II/1997 and No.396-II/1998 between Haryana Financial Corporation and Arawali Alloys rel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
