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TMI Blog2022 (5) TMI 575X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Section 421 of Cr.P.C. which then, as shown from the above discussion, clearly falls under the definition of public demand . The petitioner s contention of non-applicability of the Recovery Act, therefore, necessarily has to be negated. Once it is held that the interim compensation ordered under the NI Act falls within the ambit of Schedule I of the Recovery Act, realization thereunder cannot be stopped. The learned Court below was correct in issuing an order under Section 143A of the NI Act for recovery of interim compensation as land revenue - petition disposed off. - Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 73 of 2022 - - - Dated:- 10-5-2022 - HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SANJAY KAROL And HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE S. KUMAR For the Petitioners : Mr. Sumeet Kumar Singh, Advocate Mr. Amarendra Kumar Singh, Advocate Mr. Nikhil Singh, Advocate Ms. Shatakshi Sahay, Advocate For the Respondents : Mr. Anil Kumar Singh (GP 26 ) Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Advocate JUDGMENT ( Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE ) The following question of law arises for consideration in this writ petition:- (i) Whether an order for payment of interim compensation under the Negotiable Instrum ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Bihar ors but as on date such order is enforceable. 7. Before proceeding to the issue at hand, it would be fit to refer to and/or extract the relevant law for ready reference. Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 8. In Surinder Singh Deswal alias Colonel S. S. Deswal v. Virender Gandhi, (2019) 11 SCC 341, Hon ble the Supreme Court extensively dealt with the aims, object and purpose of the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018 (20 of 2018). It observed that The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (the Act) was enacted to define and amend the law relating to Promissory Notes, Bills of Exchange and Cheques. The said Act has been amended from time to time so as to provide, inter alia, speedy disposal of cases relating to the offence of dishonour of cheques. However, the Central Government has been receiving several representations from the public including trading community relating to pendency of cheque dishonour cases. This is because of delay tactics of unscrupulous drawers of dishonoured cheques due to easy filing of appeals and obtaining stay on proceedings. As a result of this, injustice is caused to the payee of a dishonoured cheque who has to spend consid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and (b) in any other case, upon framing of charge. (2) The interim compensation under sub-section (1) shall not exceed twenty per cent. of the amount of the cheque. (3) The interim compensation shall be paid within sixty days from the date of the order under sub-section (1), or within such further period not exceeding thirty days as may be directed by the Court on sufficient cause being shown by the drawer of the cheque. (5) The interim compensation payable under this section may be recovered as if it were a fine under section 421 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Emphasis supplied) 11. In G.J. Raja v. Tejraj Surana, (2019) 19 SCC 469, the Court held such amendment to be prospective in nature, thus not applying to the proceedings initiated prior thereto. However, the decision came to be distinguished subsequently by Hon ble Apex Court in Surender Singh Deswal alias Colonel S. S. Deswal and others v. Virendra Ghandhi and anr. (2020) 2 SCC 514, para 17. The power to grant compensation by the Court at the first instance in the complaint case is vested with the Court before whom the complaint is pending. Provision to similar effect is als ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (Emphasis supplied) 15. A Full Bench of this Court in Ram Chandra Singh vs State Of Bihar And Ors. on 12 November, 1986, AIR 1987 Pat 107, observed in reference to recovery of public money that:- 8A. The State or the public exchequer has always stood on a pedestal higher than and different from the private individual's demands for recovery of his debts. From times immemorial the State Exchequer has reserved to itself the special and peculiar procedure for the recovery of certain dues and debts owing to itself. Whilst the individual citizen resorts to the Civil Courts for debts due to him, in the case of State the public exchequer cannot, by the very nature of things, resort to the ordinary civil process for the recovery of all sums due to it. Necessarily a special procedure for enforcing its own demands is resorted to by the State in the interest of public exchequer because it would be impossible to carry on the business of government if its revenues were all to be referable to regular litigation in Civil Courts. There, thus, arises a concept of public demands in the nature of land revenue, rents, taxes, fines and other dues, in respect of which the primal need is a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that Section 3(6) and Schedule I are one integral whole which has to be construed as part and parcel of each other. But what perhaps calls for particular notice in this context is that under the Act the definition and concept of public demand becomes one of the widest amplitude. Even in its ordinary common parlance and dictionary meaning, a public demand is a wide ranging concept. However, this has been further and deliberatelly expanded by the legislature to include within its sweep any arrear or any money which may come to be mentioned or even referred to in Schedule 1 and include also any interest which may be chargeable thereon. Yet again it deserves highlighting that Section 3(6) of the Act is not merely an inclusive definition but expressly says that the public demand means whatever may be specified in Schedule 1. In the result even the broad sweep of public demand is further extended by the statute herein and, in my view, designedly so. In logical essence, this leads to the result that for the purposes of this Act a public demand includes all arrears of revenue or any money due or demand payable which finds place in Schedule I even by reference. It seems patent that the legi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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