Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the parties.

2. The applicant is prosecuted for commission of an offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act on the ground of a cheque given by him to the complainant for the legal debt, had bounced after presentation and thereafter failed to pay the demanded amount mentioned in the demand notice served upon him by complainant within the stipulated period. The applicant-accused has filed an application for sending the cheques in question to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory for determining age of the ink thereon.

3. Learned counsel for the applicant urges that rejection of the application had deprived the applicant of an opportunity to substantiate his defence in the case. The submission is refuted by learned Counsel for the opponent by submitting that the defence of the applicant before the trial Court was that blank cheques were handed over and as such rejection of the said application is unlikely to cause any prejudice to the applicant, as the said aspect is wholly irrelevant to the issues involved in the case.

4. After giving anxious consideration to the submissions made by learned Counsel f