ORDER

In this petition filed under Section 397 r/w 401 of Cr.P.C, petitioner who is arraigned as accused has challenged his conviction and sentence imposed by the trial Court for the offence punishable under Section 138 of N.I Act, which came to be confirmed by the Session Court by dismissing the appeal filed by him.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to by their rank before the trial Court.

3. Complainant, which is a private limited company dealing in chit fund business filed a complaint under Section 200 Cr.P.C against the accused alleging the offence punishable under Section 138 of N.I. Act. It is the case of the complainant that accused and his wife Smt Uma were subscribers to 4 chits of the value of Rs.15 lakhs, Rs.9 lakhs, Rs.3 lakhs and Rs.3 lakhs. They successfully bid for chits and received the money. They were required to pay the balance. However, on their failure to pay the balance amount, arbitration proceedings were initiated. Despite due service of notice, the accused and his wife failed to appear before the arbitrator. Therefore, the Arbitrator proceeded ex-parte and passed the award, determining the amount due from the accused and his wife and ord