Cheque Dishonour: Rajasthan High Court Sets Aside Conviction After Compromise, But Imposes 15% Cost On Drawer Citing Failed Appeal
Rajasthan High Court set aside conviction and sentence in a cheque dishonour case in light of settlement reached between the parties while imposing a cost of 15% of the cheque value on the petitioner (convict) since the compromise was reached at after rejection of appeal filed by the convict and pending revision petition.
The bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Garg was hearing a revision petition filed against the judgement of the Additional Sessions Judge wherein the petitioner was convicted in a case of cheque dishonour and was sentenced to one year of imprisonment along with fine.
During the pendency of the revision petition, the parties reached a compromise based on which the counsel for the petitioner submitted that they did not want to proceed with the matter and that the imprisonment of the petitioner be set aside.
In this background, the Court made reference to the Supreme Court case of Damodar S. Prabhu v Sayed Babala H. and ruled,
“sentence awarded to the petitioner for offence under Section 138 NI Act is liable to be set aside. However, since the compromise has been arrived at after rejection of the appeal preferred by the petitioner, a cost of 15% of the cheque amount deserves to be imposed upon the petitioner…”
Accordingly, the conviction and sentence of the petitioner were set aside and he was directed to deposit a cost equal to 15% of the value of the cheque with the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority, Jodhpur, within a period of one month.
In case, the amount was not deposited, the revision petition was directed to be listed before the Court for appropriate orders.
Title: Omprakash Sundra v Pawan Kumar
Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 12