Himachal Pradesh High Court: Vivek Singh Thakur, J. disposed of a petition relating to dishonour of cheques wherein the petitioner wilfully confessed on payment of the remaining amount to the respondent.
In the instant case, the petitioner/accused was convicted by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Shimla and had served simple imprisonment for six months and was subjected to payment of a fine amount for dishonour of cheques. The petitioner had borrowed money from respondent which was due from his end.
The counsel representing the petitioner, Parmod Singh Thakur stated that the amount of compensation that was awarded by the lower court being Rs 65,000, Rs 10,000 of which has been paid by cash and the remaining amount was deposited with the Registry of the High Court in installments and thereby, he intends to compound the matter and not contest the matter any further. The Counsel also submitted that the interest amount was also deposited to the Himachal Pradesh State Legal Services Authority and requested the Court to release the amount deposited in favour of the respondents.
The counsel representing the respondents, Seema Guleria, did not object to the compounding of the case and the compromise arrived and stated that the compromise arrived between the parties was out of the free will and no coercion, pressure, or threat was involved therein.
The High Court took note of the submissions of both the parties and directed the Registry to release the amount in favour of the respondents. The High Court also considered the entire amount deposited by the petitioner and the part amount being handed to the respondents by cash and the 15% of cheque amount payable to the Himachal Pradesh State Legal Services Authority.[Mohan Lal v. Golf Link Finance and Resort Ltd., 2019 SCC OnLine HP 912, decided on 02-07-2019]
