Dr. S. Muralidhar, J.

1. The present appeal was allowed by a detailed judgment dated 15th September 2016. However, by a separate order of that date, the Court highlighted three issues that arose in a larger context, and sought inputs from Prof. (Dr.) G.S. Bajpai, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice and Registrar, National Law University, Delhi by appointing him as amicus curiae. Prof. Bajpai has submitted a detailed report.

Fines and default sentences

2. The first issue concerns 'the substantive law and procedure relating to the default in payment of fine.’ The Court's attention is drawn to the decision of the Supreme Court in Palaniappa Gounder v. State of Tamil Nadu (1977) 2 SCC 634, where the Supreme Court has observed that “the sentence of fine must not be unduly excessive”. It was further observed:

“Though there is power to combine a sentence of death or life imprisonment with a sentence of fine that power is to be sparingly exercised because the sentence of death is an extreme penalty to impose and adding to that grave penalty a sentence of fine is hardly calculated to serve any social purpose.”

3. The Court's attention is also drawn to the decision in Shahejadkhan