Smt. Arti Chandani vs Chief Judicial Magistrate and Others

Dharam Veer, J.—By means of this application moved u/s 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter to be referred as Cr.P.C.), the applicant has prayed to direct the Judicial Magistrate, Roorkee to expedite and conclude the proceedings in Case No. 459 of 2009, Smt. Arti Chandani v. Anupam Gupta, u/s 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act.

Heard learned Counsel for the applicant and perused the entire material in file.

Learned Counsel for the applicant stated that after initiation of the aforesaid criminal proceedings the respondent No. 4 is trying to linger on the matter and till date no final decision has been taken place whereas more than one and a half years has been elapsed. She drawn the attention of this Court towards Section 143(3) of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 which reads as under:

143(3) Every trial under this section shall be conducted as expeditiously as possible and an endeavour shall be made to conclude the trial within six months from the date of filing of the complaint.

After considering the entire facts and circumstances of the case and on perusal of Section 143(3) of the Act as well as on consideration of the argument advanced by the Counsel for the applicant, I am of the view that the court below should be directed to decide the case expeditiously.

For the reasons as aforesaid, the C482 application is disposed of with the direction to the Judicial Magistrate, Roorkee to decide the Case No. 459 of 2009, Smt. Arti Chandani, u/s 138 of the N.I. Act, pending before him expeditiously preferably within a period of six months.