IMPORTANT POINT
Suspension of sentence – When Appellate Court considers prayer under Section 389 of Cr.P.C. of accused who has been convicted for offence under Section 138 of N.I. Act, it is always open for Appellate Court to consider whether it is an exceptional case which warrants grant of suspension of sentence without imposing condition of deposit of 20% of fine/compensation amount.

JUDGMENT :

Abhay S. Oka, J.

Leave granted.

2. Heard learned counsel appearing for the parties.

3. The appellants in these two appeals were the accused before the learned Judicial Magistrate who tried them on a complaint filed by the respondent No. 1 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short “N.I. Act”). The learned Magistrate convicted the appellants and directed them to pay the cheque amount of Rs.2,52,36,985/- with interest thereon @ 9% per annum. An appeal was preferred by the appellants before the Sessions Court. Relying upon Section 148 of the N.I. Act, the Sessions Court granted relief under Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short “Cr.P.C.”) subject to condition of appellants depositing 20% of the amount of compensation. Vide the impugned judgment, the High Court has confirmed the order of the Sessions Court.

4. The High Court relied upon the decision of this Court in the case of Surinder Singh Deswal Alias Colonel S.S. Deswal and Others v. Virender Gandhi, (2019) 11 SCC 341. The High Court proceeded on the footing that, as this Court has interpreted the word “may” appearing in Section 148 as “shall”, the relief of suspension of sentence under Section 389 of the Cr.P.C. can be granted only by directing the accused to deposit minimum of 20% of the compensation/fine amount.

5. The paragraph ‘8’ of the decision of this Court in the case of Surinder Singh Deswal Alias Colonel S.S. Deswal and Others, (Supra) reads thus: -

“8. Now so far as the submission on behalf of the appellants that even considering the language used in Section 148 of the NI Act as amended, the appellate court “may” order the appellant to deposit such sum which shall be a minimum of 20% of the fine or compensation awarded by the trial court and the word used is not “shall” and therefore the discretion is vested with the first appellate court has construed it as mandatory, which according to the learned Senior Advocate for the appellants would be contrary to the provisions of Section 148 of the NI Act as amended is concerned, considering the amended Section 148 of the NI Act as a whole to be read with the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the amending Section 148 of the NI Act, the word used is “may”, it is generally to be construed as a “rule” or “shall” and not to direct to deposit by the appellate court is an exception for which special reasons are to be assigned. Therefore amended Section 148 of the NI Act confers power upon the appellate court to pass an order pending appeal to direct the appellant-accused to deposit the sum which shall not be less than 20% of the fine or compensation either on an application filed by the original complainant or even on the application file by the appellant-accused under Section 389 CrPC to suspend the sentence. The aforesaid is required to be construed considering the fact that as per the amended Section 148 of the NI Act, a minimum of 20% of the fine or compensation awarded by the trial court is directed to be deposited and that such amount is to be deposited within a period of 60 days from the date of the order, or within such further period not exceeding 30 days as may be directed by the appellate court for sufficient cause shown by the appellant. Therefore, if amended Section 148 of the NI Act is purposively interpreted in Section 148 of the NI Act, but also Section 138 of the NI Act. The Negotiable Instruments Act has been amended from time to time so as to provide, inter alia, speedy disposal of cases relating to the offence of the dishonour of cheques. So as to see that due to delay tactics by the unscrupulous drawers of the dishonoured cheques due to easy filing of the appeals and obtaining stay in the proceedings, an injustice was caused to the payee of a dishonoured cheque, who has to spend considerable time and resources in the court proceedings to realise the value of the cheque and having observed that such delay has compromised the sanctity of the cheque tra