Interim compensation under Section 143A of the N.I. Act requires careful evaluation of the complainant's prima facie case and defendant's circumstances.

1. Heard Shri Raj Kumar Sharma, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Moti Lal, learned AGA for the State.

2. This application under Section 482 Cr.PC. has been filed by the applicant to quash the entire proceedings of in Case No. 314 of 2019 (Udayveer Singh Vs Ravindra Singh and others) under Sections 138 Negotiable Instrument Act at Police Station Gandhi Park, District- Aligarh, pending before the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 04, District - Aligarh as well as order dated 11.02.2025 passed by the aforesaid Court upon an application moved by the Opposite Party No. 2 under Section 143 A Negotiable Instrument Act .

3. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that a complaint stood lodged by the opposite party no. 2 regarding dishonouring of a cheque of an amount of Rs. 6,73,982/- pursuant to which on 07.12.2019, the applicant was summoned under Section 138 of the N.I. Act thereafter an application under Section 143A of the N.I. Act stood preferred by the opposite party no. 2 which came to be decided in favour of the complainant by the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 04, District - Aligarh on 22.04.2024.

4. Questioning the said order, the applicant preferred the application U/S 482 No. 19265 of 2024 (Ravindra Singh v. State of U.P. and another) in which on 31.07.2024, the following orders have been passed:

"1. Heard Sri Raj Kumar Sharma, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Brijesh Kumar Dwivedi, learned AGA for the State.

2. The instant application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been filed with the following prayer:

"1. Quash the entire proceeding in Case Number 314 of 2019 (Udayveer Singh Vs Ravindra Singh and others) under Section 138 Negotiable Instrument Act (hereinafter referred to as the 'N.I. Act') at Police Station Gandhi Park, District Aligarh, pending before the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 04, District - Aligarh,

II. Quash the order dated 22.04.2024 passed by the aforesaid Court upon an application moved by the Opposite Party No. 2 under Section 143 A Negotiable Instrument Act in the aforesaid case,

III. It is further prayed that this Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to stay the proceeding of Case Number 314 of 2019 (Udayveer Singh Vs Ravindra Singh and others) under Sections 138 Negotiable Instrument Act at Police Station District Aligarh, pending before Gandhi Park, the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 04, District - Aligarh."

3. Learned counsel for the applicant at the outset submits that he does not want to press prayer no.1 and 3 at this stage and he is pressing only prayer no.2 with regard to the validity of the order dated 22.04.2024 whereby the applicant was directed to pay 20% of the cheque amount as compensation to the opposite party no. 2. Learned counsel for the applicant has relied upon the judgment of Apex Court in Rakesh Ranjan Shrivastava vs. State of Jharkhand and another), 2024 (4) SCC 419 . The relevant portion of the aforesaid judgment reads as under, which is a guiding factor to the Magistrate concerned for passing the orders under Section 143-A of the N.I. Act:

"22. When the court deals with an application under Section 143-A of the NI Act, the court will have to prima facie evaluate the merits of the case made out by the complainant and the merits of the defence pleaded by the accused in the reply to the application under sub-section (1) of Section 143-A. The presumption under Section 139 of the NI Act, by itself, is no ground to direct the payment of interim compensation. The reason is that the presumption is rebuttable. The question of applying the presumption will arise at the trial. Only if the complai