Judgment :

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal, by special leave, arises from judgment dated 18th February, 2008 rendered by a learned Single Judge of the High Court of Judicature for the States of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. By the impugned judgment, the learned Single Judge has dismissed the petition preferred by the appellant under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short "the Code"), seeking quashing of orders dated 18th February 2003, by which the Criminal Complaint filed against the respondents in this appeal, for having committed offences under Sections 406 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short "IPC") had been dismissed in default by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Muktsar; and 9th November 2005 by which the application for restoration of the said complaint was dismissed.

3. Succinctly put, the material facts giving rise to the present appeal are as follows:

The appellant, a statutory body, constituted under the Warehousing Corporation Act, 1962, filed a private criminal complaint under Sections 406 and 409 of the IPC against the respondents, alleging shortage of huge quantity of rice in respect of paddy entrusted to them as miller. Simulta