ORDER :

Sachin Singh Rajput, J.

1. This petition under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short Cr.P.C.) has been filed by the petitioner praying for the following relief:-

“It is therefore, prayed that this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to pass an order granting the petitioner further 15 days time to deposit the fine amount of Rs. 3,000/-, in the interest of justice.

2. The petitioner was convicted for an offence under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short IPC) by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Saraipali vide judgment dated 27.01.2010 in Criminal Case No. 69/2009. The petitioner was sentence to undergo one year rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default of payment of fine additional three months simple imprisonment was imposed. Being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and imposition of sentence, the petitioner preferred an appeal before the learned 1st Additional Session Judge, Mahasamund (C.G.) which was registered as Criminal Appeal No. 43/2010. The learned appellate court vide its judgment dated 03.04.2010 allowed the appeal in part and reduced the one year rigorous imprisonment to six months however maintained the fine amount and default sentence.

3. Bing aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment, the petitioner preferred a revision under section 397 read with section 401 of the Cr.P.C. before this Court. The said revision was registered as Criminal Revision No. 189/2010. After hearing the counsel for the parties, this Court partly allowed the revision on 04.07.2022 and passed the following order :-

“Accordingly, the sentence imposed on the applicant is reduced to the period already undergone by him. However, in lieu of reduction of sentence to the period already undergone, the fine amount is enhanced to Rs.5,000/- from that of Rs.2,000/- imposed by the Court below. Out of this enhanced amount Rs.3,000/- shall go the victim as compensation in terms of Section 357 CrPC. Order accordingly. Let this amount be deposited in the Court below within a period of three months from today. If the applicant fails to deposit of this amount within the time stipulated, he shall undergo further rigorous imprisonment of one month.”

4. Shri Kishore Narayan, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the order dated 04.07.2022 passed in Criminal Revision No. 189/2010 was not subject to challenge before Hon’ble Supreme Court and now it has attained finality. He further submitted that the order of the Hon’ble Court could not be communicated to the petitioner. He submitted that petitioner used to enquire about the case to his local counsel who unfortunately passed away on 06.06.2016. Therefore, the petitioner was not aware about the passing of the order by the Hon’ble Court. By the time the petitioner came to know about the order of the Hon’ble Court, the time granted by the Hon’ble Court for depositing the fine has lapsed. Though he tried to deposit the same but it was refused as the time for depositing the same has lapsed. Without causing any further delay he has filed this petition seeking extension of 15 days time to deposit the fine. There is no deliberate fault on his part and he is still ready and willing to deposit the fine as ordered by the Hon’ble Court. He submitted that in order to do justice, the petition may be allowed. He submitted that section 482 of Cr.P.C. give ample powers to this Court and in the ends of justice the petition may be allowed. He placed reliance of an order passed by this Court in Cr.M.P. No. 514 of 2916 dated 11.05.2016 in case of Jagannath Singh Thakur Vs. State of Chhattisgarh. In this case this Court has extended the time for depositing the fine. Lastly he submitted that if this court does not agree with the submissions and does not extend the time for depositing the fine, some observation with regard to section 68 of IPC may be made enabling him to pay the fine after the applicant surrenders before the learned trial court (JMFC, Saraipali