Nafr High Court
Case Details
1 2025:CGHC:13987 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 1046 of 2025 Euro Pratik Ispat (India) Pvt. Ltd. Through Its Director- Himanshu Shrivastav, S/o Ramnath Shrivastav, Aged About 56 Years, Having Registered Office At Gala No. 216, Building No. 3b, Rahul Mittal Industrial Estate, Kurla Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai City- 400059, M.H. And Having Another Office At Farishta Complex Raipur- 492001, C.G. (Wrongly Mentioned As Without Age In Annexure P/1) ... Petitioner versus 1 - Majestic Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd. Having Its Registered Adress At 228 Trade Centre, Bandra Kurla Complex, Opp. Mtnl Building, Bandra-East, Mumbai- 400051 (M.H.) Having Another Address At Fl. No. 707, Bldg O. 2/a, Rajv Raju Nagar, Subhash Road, Thane Mumbai City (M.H.) 2 - Mr. Janak Shrirang Tekale, Director - Majestic Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd. S/o Mr. Shrirang Raghunath Tekale, Having Address At Anant Smruti, A/8 Datta Nagar Road, Behind Bharati Vidyapith, Katraj, Pune- 411046 (M.H.) 3 - Mr. Bhushan Manohar Malandkar, Director- Majestic Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd., S/o Manohar Malandkar, Having Address At 707, Rajvaibhav Nx, Wing-2a, Subhash Road, Near Infront Church, Raju Nagar, Dombivli, West Kalyan, Thane, Vishnunagar- 421202 (M.H.) 4 - Mrs Manisha Shantilal Jain Director- Majestic Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd. D/o Shantilal Hemraj Jain, Having Address At 76/80, Jail Road, Ratna Deep Jewellers, Shop No. 1, 2, 3 A Navroji Hill Road, Dingri East, P.O. Chinchbunder, Mumbai (M.H.) 5 - Mrs. Nisha Tapadia, Director- Majestic Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd., D/o Mr. Nand Kishore Jaju, Having Address At Near M.E.S. College, H. No. 14, Upper Orchand, Zuarimnagar, S.O. South Goa- 403726 (Goa) ... Respondents VASANT KUMAR Digitally signed by VASANT KUMAR 2 For Petitioner
Legal Reasoning
: Mr. Trivikram Nayak, Advocate Hon’ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma Order on Board 24/03/2025 1. Heard finally. 2. This instant petition is being preferred by Petitioner with regard to the Complaint Case No. 5685 of 2023 which was filed on 10/08/2023 before the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Raipur, C.G. {“hereinafter to be referred as 'learned trial Court'} against Respondent for offence u/s 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 [Hereinafter to be referred as 'N.I. Act'] and it was subsequently registered by the learned Lower Court. The Petitioner seeks exercise of the inherent jurisdiction of the Hon'ble High Court to expedite the trial in order to secure the ends of justice and to prevent the abuse of the process of Court. 3. Facts of the case in brief are that the Petitioner is a private limited company under Companies Act 1956 having CIN U51100MH1993PTC072210 with offices at aforementioned address and Himanshu Shrivastav as its Director who has been authorised by the Petitioner company vide Board resolution dated 24/07/2023 to file the instant case. Respondent No. 1 is a private limited company engaged in the business of recreational, cultural, and sporting activities and ancillary businesses with office at aforementioned address and has Respondent No. 2 to 5 as its Directors. Respondents are engaged in conducting annual T20 cricket tournament with retired legendary cricketers in 3 'Road Safety World Series' in cricket matches in India and the same is sanctioned by the BCCI and there are 6 international teams wherein the Respondent No. 1 is one of the league owners. The Petitioner and Respondent No. 1 had entered into a Franchisee agreement dated 12/03/2021 as per which the Petitioner was granted ownership and management of one franchisee of the aforementioned world series league for an initial period of 10 years as per the terms and conditions of the agreement. In partial discharge of the legal liability as per the agreement with regard to Season 1 & 2 of the Road Safety World Series cricked league, the Respondent No. 1 had issued Cheque No. 001218 for a sum of Rs. 40,00,000/- dated 20/03/2023 drawn on ICICI Bank SV Road Branch, Andheri W. Mumbai in favour of the Petitioner and when the Petitioner had submitted the same in his Axis Bank Account at Devendra Nagar Branch, Raipur, C.G. the same cheque had been returned vide Return Memo dated 24/05/2023 with the following remark- 'Payment Stopped by Drawer'. 4. The Petitioner had approached the Respondents regarding the dishonour of the cheque issued towards the existing legal liability however no heed was paid and subsequently legal notice dated 22/06/2023 had been issued by the Petitioner under Section 138 of NI Act against Respondents wherein Respondent Nos. 2, 4, & 5 had received the same on 01/07/2023, 27/06/2023 & 28/06/2023 implying that the said persons were fully aware about the dishonour of the said cheque in question and cleverly and cunningly despite bearing the registered address, the Respondent No. 1 & 3 deliberately avoided the receipt of the notice. Accordingly, when within the prescribed time the 4 Respondents failed to make good their payments, the Petitioner had no option left other than to institute the instant Complaint case vide Complaint dated 10/08/2023 before the Learned Trial Court. 5. The learned Trial Court vide order dated 10/08/2023 had registered the complaint filed by Petitioner as Complaint Case No. 5685 of 2023 it had also issued summons against the Respondents and the case was next fixed on 11/12/2023. Thereafter, on several occasions due to non-appearance of Respondents the case has been adjourned one way or the other since its inception on 10/08/2023, as can be seen from the order-sheets of Complaint Case No. 5685 of 2023. That, it was only on 01/05/2024 that some of the Respondents had appeared before the Learned Trial Court, however, immediately after the said hearing until now the case has been fixed for 'Apradh Vivran' by the Learned Trial Court as time and again the accused persons are not present before the Learned Trial Court. It is furthermore submitted that most recently the instant complaint case was listed on 14/02/2025 for 'Apradh Vivran' and again application u/s 317 CrPC had been moved for non-appearance and the case was fixed for 10/03/2025 and again on 10/03/2025 the case was fixed for 'Apradh Vivran' however owing to absence of the Respondents the next date of hearing was given as 25/03/02025 wherein again it is most likely to get adjourned due to non-appearance of Respondents/Accused persons. Hence, the Trial pending in Complaint Case No. 5685 of 2023 before learned Trial Court should be expedited and completed within a stipulated time-frame. 5 6. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that right to speedy trial is an intrinsic right of the parties and inordinate delay in Trial would ultimately hamper the Criminal Justice system. In the matter at hand the case is pending since 10/08/2023 i.e. almost more than 2 years (more than 1.5 years) and any further delay would un-necessarily prolong the litigation. He furthe contended that the time and again when the case is fixed for Apradh Vivran, for one reason or another the matter has been adjourned majorly due to the absence of Respondents which is causing inordinate delay in Trial. 7. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Makwana Mangaldas Tulsidas v. State of Gujarat, (2020) 4 SCC 695, has held as follows- "2. Dishonour of cheque, which originally gave cause of action to file a civil suit, was criminalised in the year 1988, with the insertion of Chapter XVII in the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. Cheque dishonour, followed by default in payment after a demand notice, became punishable under Section 138 with imprisonment or fine which may extend to twice the amount of the cheque or both. 3. The legislative intent behind the abovementioned amendment was to ensure faith in the efficacy of banking operations and credibility in transacting business on cheques. It was to provide a strong criminal remedy in order to deter the high incidence of dishonour of cheques 6 and ensure compensation to the complainant. Subsequent amendments in the Act and the pronouncements of this Court reflect that it was always perceived that these cases
Decision
would be disposed of speedily so as to preserve the object of criminalisation of the act. 4. Despite many changes brought through legislative amendments and various decisions of this Court mandating speedy trial and disposat of these cases, the trial courts are filled with large number of pendency.of these cases. A recent study of the pending cases, reflects pendency of more than 35 lakh, which constitutes more than 15 per cent of the total criminal cases pending in the District Courts. Further, there is a steady increase in the docket burden. 6. One of the major factors, for high pendency is delay in ensuring the presence of the accused before the court for trial. As per recent study. more than half of the pending cases Le. more than 18 lakh cases, are pending due to absence of accused. 9. Despite service of summons issued through aforesaid mediums, the problem of non-execution of further process persists. While summons may be issued through aforementioned modes, bailable warrants and non-bailable 7 warrants are to be executed through police as per Section 72 CrPC. Many a time, police as serving agency, does not give heed to the process issued in private complaints. Courts also remain ambivalent of this fact, requiring the complainant to pay unjustified process fee. repeatedly and avoid to take action against negligent police officers. The coercive methods to secure the presence of accused viz. attachment indicated in Sections 82 and 83 CrPC, are seldom resorted.” 8. Section 143(3) of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 also postulates that every trial under this section shall be conducted as expeditiously as possible and an endeavor shall be made to conclude the trial within six months from the date of filing of the complaint. 9. This Hon'ble High Court in matters bearing CRMP/2561/2023 vide order dated 08/11/2024 and also in CRMP/586/2025 vide order dated 17/02/2025, has directed for expediting the trial so that the matter can be concluded within a stipulated time frame. It is therefore most humbly prayed before this High Court that the Trial pending in Complaint Case No. 5685 of 2023 before the learned Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Raipur, C.G. be expedited and it may also kindly be pleased to direct that no un-necessary adjournments and no long adjournments be granted to any of the parties in the instant case so that the Trial can be effectively concluded within a stipulated time frame preferably within six months in order to ensure speedy disposal of the matter, in the interest of justice. 8 10. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the record with utmost circumspection. 11. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and limited prayer made by learned counsel for the petitioner. 12. Perusal of record shows that a complaint case bearing Complaint Case No.5685/2023, which was filed on 10.08.2023 before the Court of learned JMFC, Raipur, C.G., against the respondents under Section 138 of N.I. Act, 1881, but there is no substantial progress. Therefore, counsel for the petitioner prays for a direction to the trial Court to conclude the proceedings expeditiously. 13. Since, the matter relates to the offence under Section 138 of N.I. Act, 1881 and considering the fact that the case is pending since 10.08.2023 and further there is no substantial progress in the case therefore, the learned trial Court is directed to conclude the proceedings of the aforementioned complaint case within a period of one year from the date of receipt of copy of this order, if there is no legal impediment. 14. Accordingly, the present petition is disposed of. Sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) Judge Vasant