Sc Disapproves ‘strange And Disturbing’ Judgment By Hc

Chandigarh: Terming the decision taken by single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as “strange and very disturbing”, the Supreme Court held that ‘the course adopted by single Judge is unknown to law’. The observations were made by a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice R V Raveendran and Justice J M Panchal. The judgment has been passed in wake of an appeal filed by a Haryana-based company, whose acquittal, decided by a trial court, was reversed by the single Judge of the High Court. The High Court, after reversing the acquittal of the company, remitted the case back to the trial court for deciding the quantum of sentence in the case. Terming this course as unknown to law, the Supreme Court has allowed the appeal filed by the Haryana Company, thereby acquitting it. M/s Kumar Exports, a Panipat-based firm was held innocent under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act by a Magistrate of Karnal in 2001. “The High Court, after convicting the company, remitted the matter to the magistrate for passing appropriate order of the sentence. The single Judge was hearing an appeal from an order of acquittal. The judicial function of imposing appropriate sentence can be performed only by the Appellate Court when it reverses the order of acquittal and not by any other court. Having found the appellant guilty under Section 138 of the Act it was the duty of the High Court to impose appropriate sentence. Therefore, we do not approve or accept the procedure adopted by the High Court,” the Supreme Court held.

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