280 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 21.01.2026 The Punjab State Cooperative Supply And Marketing Federation Ltd ...Appellant Versus M/S Gupta Corporation ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE MANISHA BATRA Present: Mr. Karun Bansal, Advocate for the appellant ***

MANISHA BATRA, J (ORAL):-

1. The instant application has been filed under Section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘Cr.P.C.’) seeking grant of leave to file an appeal against the judgment of acquittal dated 10.03.2023, passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1^st Class, Fatehgarh Sahib in case bearing No.NACT-106/2017 dated 11.04.2017, titled as ‘The Punjab State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (Markfed)

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Versus M/s. Gupta Corporation , filed under Section 138 with Section 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short ‘N. I. Act’), whereby respondent was acquitted for commission of offence punishable under Section 138 of the N. I. Act.

2. Today, the case was fixed for addressing arguments on the application. Learned counsel for the appellant, while relying upon a recent pronouncement of Hon’ble Supreme Court in M/s. Celestium Fina