Date:01/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/01/stories/2006110114330500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Exemplary cost for "strange" plea

Special Correspondent

The matter relates to a cheque dishonoured for want of sufficient funds

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has imposed an "exemplary cost" of Rs. 5,000 on persons who had filed a writ petition with a "strange prayer" that the court quash or transfer the unnumbered proceedings against them pending in a magistrate court at Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

The matter relates to a cheque dishonoured for want of sufficient funds. Claiming that the judicial magistrate court at Raipur had initiated criminal proceedings against the petitioners and issued summons, the petition sought to quash the process.

Justice K. Chandru said: "It is not known ... how the petitioners can file a writ petition even before the process can be issued by the competent criminal court... It is stated in the affidavit that they have received summons from the court for hearing, even though there was no such summons in respect of this case. Therefore it is clearly a false statement... It is a clear abuse of process of court, and there is absolutely no cause of action for the petitioners to file this writ petition and clubbing it along with other writ petitions where the process has been issued."

"No transfer"

As for the prayer to transfer the case from the Raipur court to the magistrate court at Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, the judge said: "Such a prayer cannot be countenanced by this court, as it is incompetent to make any inter-State transfer under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure." The petitioners, who had cited the Raipur judicial magistrate also as a respondent, said he ought to have postponed the process and should have ordered an investigation.

Rejecting the submission, the judge said: "This is not an offence arising out of any other enactment but an offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Therefore, there was no necessity for investigating the commission of any offence, and the only method that is contemplated under Section 138 of the NI Act is filing a private complaint. There is no other option open to the magistrate but to issue the process."