The main legal point established is that under Section 147 of the N.I. Act, the compounding of the offence is permitted, subject to the payment of graded cost as per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

JUDGMENT

Dr. H.B. Prabhakara Sastry, J. - The present revision petition has been filed by the accused, challenging the judgment of conviction and order on sentence passed by the Trial Court in C.C. No. 30110/2014, holding the accused guilty for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter for brevity referred to as the "N.I. Act"), which was further confirmed by the Sessions Judge's Court in the appeal filed by her. Challenging the impugned judgments of conviction and order on sentence passed by both the Courts, the petitioner has filed the present revision petition.

2. Learned counsels from both side along with their respective clients, as identified by their learned counsels, are physically present in the Court.

3. Learned counsels from both side have filed a joint application-I.A. No. 1/2022, under Section 147 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter for brevity referred to as "the N.I. Act") read with Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, along with the independent affidavits of the petitioner (accused in the Trial Court) and the respondent (complainant in the Trial Court), reporting the settlement between them by way of compromise and seeking acquittal of the petitioner herein (accused in C.C. No. 30110/2014).

4. Learned counsels for the parties also make their submission on the lines of the terms of the compromise petition.

5. The sum and substance of the sworn affidavits filed by both parties is that, the parties have settled the matter amicably, stating that the petitioner (accused in the Trial Court) has paid a total sum of ' 2,75,000/- to the respondent in cash and the respondent (complainant in the Trial Court) has acknowledged the receipt of the said sum, as a full and final settlement in the matter and to compound the offence under Section 147 of the N.I. Act.

6. The enquiry made with the parties who are physically present convinces the Court that both the parties out of their free consent and volition and in their best interest have settled the matter amicably which is further corroborated by the submissions made by their learned counsels. As such, I am of the view that on the terms of the said joint application, the parties be permitted to compound the offence under Section 147 of the N.I. Act, however, subject to the payment of the graded cost by the petitioner/accused.

7. Section 147 of the N.I. Act has made every offence punishable under the N.I. Act as compoundable. As such, there is no bar for the parties in the proceeding to compound the offence. However, at the same time, the guidelines laid down by Hon'ble Apex Court in Damodar S. Prabhu v. Sayed Babalal H reported in AIR 2010 Supreme Court 1907 regarding imposing graded cost on litigant also to be borne in mind. According to the said Judgment in Damodar S. Prabhu's Case (supra), if the application for compounding is made before the Sessions Court or High Court in revision or appeal, such compounding is permitted to be allowed on the common condition that the accused pays 15% of the cheque amount by way of graded cost.

8. The petitioner has also filed a memo, seeking for appropriate orders with respect to a sum of ' 56,250/- said to have been deposited by the petitioner herein in the Trial Court in C.C. No. 30110/2014 through Q No. 11614/16-17 dated 04-11-2016.

9. Admittedly, in the instant case, the two cheques' amount is for a sum of ' 3,34,000/-, as such, the graded cost would be ' 50,100/-.

10. Accordingly, taking into consideration the joint application-I.A. No. 1/2022, the independent affidavits filed by both side, the guidelines given by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Damodar S. Prabhu's case (supra) and the circumstance of the case on hand, I proceed to pass the following:

ORDER

[i] The Joint application-I.A. No. 1/2022 filed by both side under Section 147 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, read with Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is allowed;

[ii] The parties to