TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (5) TMI 575
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....3.08.2018 to 30.08.2018. As consideration, petitioner issued a cheque no.170288 on 15.03.2019 of Punjab National Bank, Aurangabad which on presentation was dishonoured. Private Respondent sent a legal notice and failure to comply subsequently filed Complaint Case No.319 of 2019 on 16.04.2019 before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Aurangabad under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as NI Act). 3. The learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, III Aurangabad vide order dated 21.11.2019 upon consideration of facts and the record, passed an order of interim compensation of Rs.25,00,000/- under Section 143A of the NI Act to be paid by the petitioner herein to the private respondent, within a period of sixty days from the date of order. Subsequently, an order for execution was passed on 28.01.2021 where noting that sufficient time had passed since the original order, extension could not be granted and Section 421(1) (b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure was invoked and a warrant was issued to the Collector, Aurangabad authorizing him to realize the above stated amount from the moveable and immovable of the petitioner herein. 4. Pursuant to the....
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....olous and unnecessary litigation which would save time and money. The proposed amendments will strengthen the credibility of cheques and help trade and commerce in general by allowing lending institutions, including banks, to continue to extend financing to the productive sectors of the economy. 3. It is, therefore, proposed to introduce the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to provide, inter alia, for the following, namely- (i) to insert a new Section 143-A in the said Act to provide that the court trying an offence under Section 138, may order the drawer of the cheque to pay interim compensation to the complainant, in a summary trial or a summons case, where he pleads not guilty to the accusation made in the complaint; and in any other case, upon framing of charge. The interim compensation so payable shall be such sum not exceeding twenty per cent of the amount of the cheque; and (ii) to insert a new Section 148 in the said Act so as to provide that in an appeal by the drawer against conviction under Section 138, the appellate court may order the appellant to deposit such sum which shall be a minimum of twenty per cent of the fine or compensation awarded by the tria....
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.... Singh Deswal (supra) where the Court clarified that the expression "may" has to be read as "shall". Thus the Court accounting for all the attending facts and circumstances has to take a view in the affirmative in the grant of interim compensation, be it at the first instance or at the appellate stage. 13. The cause of action in the instant case has arisen much after the insertion of Section 143A of the NI Act. Such insertion was by virtue of Act (20 of 2018) notified with effect from 01.09.2018. Bihar & Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1914 14. Relevant extracts of Section 3 and Article 3 Schedule I are reproduced below:- "3. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context :- (1) "certificate debtor" means the person named as debtor in a certificate filed under this Act and includes any person whose name is substituted or added as debtor by the Certificate Officer; (2) "certificate holder" means the Government or person in whose favour a certificate has been filed under this Act, and includes any person whose name is substituted or added as creditor by the Certificate Officer; (3) "certificate-officer" means a Collector, a....
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.... of demand and coercion for the recovery of land revenue both before and subsequent to the permanent settlement were resorted to. One of the earliest statutes in this context is Regulation III of 1774 in the province of Bengal followed by Regulation I of 1801 and Regulation V of 1812. Later public demands other than land revenue also came within the ambit of the special mode for their recovery. Act VII of 1868 for first time codified provisions relating to the procedure for the recovery of State demands other than land revenue proper. It was followed by a series of other statutes ultimately culminating in Bengal Act I of 1895 which was the predecessor statute to the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913 (Act III of 1913). This perhaps continued to apply within this jurisdiction till the creation of the separate province of Bihar and Orissa and till the present Bihar and Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1914 was notified in the gazette on the 7th Oct., 1914. The Act is in part in pari materia with its predecessor statute. Plainly enough it is a pre-Constitution legislation which in essence has held the field for 72 years now and, as noticed, is only a successor of much older p....
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....entary thereto thus become a key to the interpretation of these provisions." Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 16. Section 421 reads as under: "421. Warrant for levy of fine. (1) When an offender has been sentenced to pay a fine, the Court passing the sentence may take action for the recovery of the fine in either or both of the following ways, that is to say, it may-... ... (b) issue a warrant to the Collector of the district, authorising him to realise the amount as arrears of land revenue from the movable or immovable property, or both of the defaulter: ... (3) Where the Court issues a warrant to the Collector under clause (b) of sub- section (1), the Collector shall realise the amount in accordance with the law relating to recovery of arrears of land revenue, as if such warrant were a certificate issued under such law: Provided that no such warrant shall be executed by the arrest or detention in prison of the offender." (Emphasis supplied) 17. With the above facts and law, we now proceed to analyze the issue arising out of this lis. (i) Whether an order for payment of interim compensation under the Negotiable Instrument Act can be enforceable under the Bi....