M/s. Kumar Exports Versus M/s. Sharma Carpets

Judgment of the above noted case bearing Criminal Appeal No. 2045 of 2008 directed against judgment dated November 23, 2006 rendered by the learned Single Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 946 SBA of 2004, was delivered by the bench of Supreme Court of India comprising of Mr. J. M. Panchal J. and Mr. R. V. Raveendran J. on December 16, 2008.

The significant question in law involved in the case was whether appellate court could remit the matter to trial court for passing appropriate order of sentence while reversing the order of acquittal.

This appeal in question was preferred against judgment rendered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, by which the judgment dated December 6, 2003, passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate I Class, Karnal, in Criminal Complaint No. 178 of 2001, acquitting the appellant under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 was set aside and after convicting the appellant under Section 138 of the Act the matter was remitted to the learned Magistrate to pass appropriate order of sentence.
The Court observed that powers of the Appellate Court in an appeal from an order of acquittal, are enumerated in Section 386(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Those powers do not contemplate that an Appellate Court, after recording conviction, can remit the matter to the trial court for passing appropriate order of sentence. 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 regard to the scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 the Supreme Court held that after finding the appellant guilty under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the judicial discretion of imposing appropriate sentence could not be abdicated by the learned Single Judge in favour of the learned Magistrate. It was further held that having found the appellant guilty under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act it was the bounden duty of the High Court to impose appropriate sentence commensurate with the facts of the case.

Accordingly, appeal was allowed.

For getting complete judgment as pronounced by the court, please follow link below:
http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs.aspx