JUDGMENT

Thomas, J.-Leave granted.

2. A Judicial Magistrate of first class, after convicting an accused of the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (for short the NI Act ) sentenced him to imprisonment for six months and a fine of Rs. 83,000/-. The conviction and sentence were confirmed by the Sessions Judge in appeal and the revision filed by the convicted person was dismissed by the High Court. When the special leave petition was moved, learned counsel confined his contention to the question whether a Judicial Magistrate of first class could have imposed, a sentence of fine beyond Rs.5,000/- in view of the limitation contained in Section 29(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short the Code ) . As the decision of this Court in K. Bhaskaran v. Sankaran Vaidhyan Balan and Anr.1 is in support of the said contention we issued notice to the respondent mentioning that it is limited to the question of sentence. Learned counsel for the respondent contended that the decision of this Court to the effect that power of the Judicial Magistrate of first class is limited in the matter of imposing a sentence of fine of Rs. 5000/- is not correct in view of