Offences under Section 135 of the Electricity Act are compoundable.

Court No. - 66

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 29357 of 2022

Applicant :- Mohammad Iqbal

Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another

Counsel for Applicant :- Avinash Pandey

Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Narendra Kumar Tiwari

Hon'ble Rajeev Misra,J.

Heard Mr. Avinash Pandey, the learned counsel for applicant,

the learned A.G.A. for State and Mr. Yashonidhi Shukla,

Advocate, holding brief of Mr. Narendra Kumar Tiwari, the

learned counsel for opposite party No.3.

Perused the record.

This application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been filed

challenging the Charge-sheet dated 03.02.2018 submitted in

Case Crime No.11 of 2018, under Section 135 Electricity Act,

Police Station- Kotwali Nagar, District- Saharanpur and

Cognizance Taking order dated 06.04.2018 passed by

Special/Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.4 Saharanpur in

Special Case No.309 of 2018 (State Vs. Mohammad Iqbal)

under Section 135 Electricity Act, Police Station- Kotwali

Nagar, District- Saharanpur, now pending in the Court of

Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.4, Saharanpur.

It has been stated that the offence alleged is compoundable. The

applicant is ready to settle the matter with the opposite party no.

3. Reliance has also been placed on a recent Supreme Court

decision in the case of Suresh Ganpati Halvankar Vs. The

State of Maharashtra & Ors. in Criminal Appeal No. 156 of

2018, decided on 22.01.2018, reported in 2018 (0) SCC 89.

Considering the above, the present application is disposed of

with the following directions:

i) the applicant shall pay up the entire electricity dues as

claimed, upto date, within a period of three weeks from today.

ii) upon payment of the electricity dues, the applicant shall,

within a week therefrom file before the learned court below an

application seeking compounding of the offence, as alleged and

deposit the compounding charges.

iii) any amount that may have been deposited either towards

electricity dues or compounding charges may be adjusted

against the amount that may be claimed against the applicant.

iv) upon proof of payment of the electricity dues and the

compounding charges, if any, the learned Court below shall

decide the application for compounding filed by the applicant,

in accordance with law before proceedings further, with the

trial.

v) for a period of one month from today, and in the event of

continued compliance being made by the applicant (of this

order and also of the further directions that may be issued by

the learned court below, within time as may be granted by it),

coercive measures may not be adopted against the applicant till

disposal of the compounding application.

vi) in the event of default on part of the applicant, the protection

being granted by this order shall stand lifted and the applicant

may be dealt with as if this order had not been passed.

With the aforesaid directions, the present application is

disposed of.

Order Date :- 9.1.2023

Sachin/-

Digitally signed by :-

SACHIN TIWARI

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad