Himachal Pradesh High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Chander Bhushan Barowalia, J. allowed a criminal appeal filed under Section 378 CrPC against the order of the trial court whereby complaint filed by the appellant was dismissed for non-appearance of the complainant-appellant.
The appellant filed a complaint under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, alleging that the respondent had to pay a legally liable debt to the appellant. The respondent issued a cheque in favour of the appellant for the same. The appellant presented the said cheque before the respondent’s bank for payment. However, the cheque was returned with the endorsement ‘Funds Insufficient’. The appellant issued a demand notice to the respondent in compliance with the provisions of NI Act, but even then the respondent did not discharge his debt. Consequently, the appellant filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Act. The trial court issued notice for the service on the accused-respondent on 23-12-2015. On that date, the appellant did not appear before the court as he was under the impression that it was a formal hearing and it would be attended to by his counsel. However, appellant’s counsel was busy in conducting a criminal trial before the first Appellate Court and even he could not appear before the trial court on the given date. Resultantly, the trial court, under Section 256 CrPC, dismissed the complaint and acquitted the respondent. Aggrieved by the same, the appellant was in appeal before the High Court.
The High Court perused the record and was of the view that the trial court was not right in dismissing appellant’s complaint. The Court noted that non-appearance of the appellant, as well as his counsel, was not due to inadvertence. The appellant was relying on his counsel to appear before the trial court as it was a formal hearing, and the counsel was busy in conducting the criminal trial as stated hereinabove. The Court was of the opinion that such non-appearance was due to unavoidable circumstances. The Court concluded that the non-appearance of the appellant as well his counsel was neither intentional nor willful, but was beyond their control. Therefore, the High Court allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment of the trial court dismissing the complaint of the appellant herein. [Padam Singh Saini v. Megh Singh,2018 SCC OnLine HP 784, dated 18-6-2018]
