Mr. Usha vs Mr. B. Gobinath

S. Ashok Kumar, J.—The revision petitioner/accused and the respondent/complainant are the same parties in all these revision cases. In all

these cases, various cheques issued by the petitioner/accused in favour of the the respondent/complainant bounced and therefore, the respondent

initiated the complaints in C.C. Nos. 273, 276, 277, 275 274 and 272 of 2002 on the file of the District Munsif -cum- Judicial Magistrate,

Neyveli.

On receipt of summons, the petitioner filed discharge petitions in C.M.P.Nos: 162, 165, 166, 164, 163 and 161 of 2003 on various grounds

and the same were dismissed by the learned Judicial Magistrate as not maintainable. Aggrieved over the said order, the petitioner/accused has

preferred these Criminal Revision Cases.

Learned counsel for the respondent would contend that as per the judgment of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in Adalat Prasad Vs. Rooplal Jindal

and Others, , the discharge petitions filed by the revision petitioner at this stage are not maintainable and therefore, the order of the learned Judicial

Magistrate, Neyveli need not be interfered. In the said judgment, their Lordships of the Hon''ble Supreme Court have held as follows:

But after taking cognisance of the complaint and examining the complainant and the witnesses if he is satisfied that there is sufficient ground to

proceed with the complaint he can issue process by way of summons u/s 204 of the Code. Therefore, what is necessary or a condition precedent

for issuing process u/s 204 is the satisfaction of the Magistrate either by examination of the complainant and the witnesses or by the inquiry

contemplated u/s 202 that there is sufficient ground for proceeding with the complaint hence issue the process u/s 204 of the Code. In none of

these stages the Code has provided for hearing the summoned accused, for obvious reasons because this is only a preliminary stage and the stage

of hearing of the accused would only arise at a subsequent stage provided for in the latter provision in the Code. It is true as held by this Court in

Nilamani Routray Vs. Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd., that before issuance of summons the Magistrate should be satisfied that there is sufficient

ground for proceeding with the complaint but that satisfaction is to be arrived at by the inquriy conducted by him as contemplated under Sections

200 and 202, and the only stage of dismissal of the complaint arises u/s 203 of the Code at which stage the accused has no role to play, therefore,

the question of the accused on receipt of summons approaching the court and making an application for dismissal of the complaint u/s 203 of the

Code on a reconsideration of the material available on record is impermissible because by then Section 203 is already over and the Magistrate has

proceeded further to Section 204 stage.

It is true that if a Magistrate takes congnisance of an offence, issues process without there being any allegation against the accused or any

material implicating the accused or in contravention of provisions of Section 200 and 202, the order of the Magistrate may be vitiated, but then the

relief an aggrieved accused can obtain at that stage is not by invoking Section 203 of the Code because the Criminal Procedure code does not

contemplate a review of an order. Hence in the absence of any review power or inherent power with the subordinate criminal courts, the remedy

lies in invoking Section 482 of the Code.

The above decision of the Hon''ble Supreme Court squarely applies to this case. Only after satisfying himself that there is sufficient ground for

proceeding with the complaints, the learned Judicial Magistrate has issued process and it is not the stage in which the discharge petitions can be

filed.

Therefore, all these Criminal Revision Cases are dismissed and consequently connected Crl.M.Ps are also dismissed. However, if so advised,

the petitioner/accused can file quash petitions u/s 482 Cr.P.C., for which there is no legal bar as per the decision of the Hon''ble Supreme Court,

referred to above.