Court No. - 72
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 36314 of 2019 Applicant :- Boxed Original (India) Private Limited And 2 Ors Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And Anr Counsel for Applicant :- Pratik J. Nagar Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Rajiv Joshi,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned AGA for the State.
The summoning order dated 9.1.2019 as well as the entire proceedings of Complaint Case No. 995 of 2018 (M/s Tej Industries Vs. Boxed Original (India) Private Limited and others) under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act), pending in the court of Third Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar, have been challenged in the present petition under section 482 Cr.P.C.
Record reflects that a complaint under section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act was filed on 25.6.2018 by opposite party no. 2- M/s Tej Industries against the applicants herein alleging dishonouring of cheque, one of Rs. 95,636/- (cheque no. 067085 dated 2.3.2018) on the ground of insufficient funds. The Magistrate concerned after recording the statement of the complainant as well as witnesses under Sections 200 and 202 Cr.P.C., vide impugned order dated 9.1.2019 has summoned the applicants.
While assailing the impugned summoning order, contention of learned counsel for the applicants is that the Magistrate has not applied judicial mind in passing the summoning order as the order has been made on a printed proforma, in which the name of the accused has been filled up by hand.
Relying upon the decision of this Court in Ankit Vs. State of U.P. and another, JIC 2010 (1) 432, submission of the learned counsel for the applicants is that the order impugned being on a printed proforma is clearly without application of judicial mind and hence is liable to be quashed on this ground alone.
Learned AGA has also admitted that the order impugned has been passed on the printed proforma and therefore, keeping in view the decision in the case of Ankit (supra), the Magistrate concerned may be directed to pass a fresh order.
I have considered the arguments so advanced by learned counsel for the applicants and learned A.G.A. and also perused the record.
The certified copy of the order summoning the accused has been appended as annexure-5 at page-29 of the paper book. From a perusal of the above order, it is evident that it is a typed proforma where only information of case number, name of parties, section, date and next date is to be filled by Magistrate in handwriting. It appears that the blanks in the printed proforma have been filled up by some court employee and the Magistrate namely Sri Aniruddha Maurya, Presiding Officer, Additional Court No.4, Kanpur Nagar, has thereafter just put his initial, which leads to the conclusion that the Magistrate has passed the order in a mechanical manner without application of judicial mind.
Despite there being a series of decisions of the Apex Court and this Court disapproving such practice of passing orders on printed proforma by the judicial officers, it is very painful and unfortunate to see that applicants in the present case has been summoned by the Magistrate by an order in which blanks have been filled in on a printed proforma without applying judicial mind. This type of order has already been held unsustainable by this Court in the case of Ankit (supra) relying on in a number of decisions of the Apex Court. The relevant portion of the said decision, is extracted below:
" Although as held by this Court in the case of Megh Nath Guptas & Anr V State of U.P. And Anr, 2008 (62) ACC 826, in which reference has been made to the cases of Deputy Chief Controller Import and Export Vs Roshan Lal Agarwal, 2003 (4^) ACC 686 (SC), UP Pollution Control Board Vs Mohan Meakins, 2000 (2) JIC 159 (SC): AIR 2000 SC 1456 and Kanti Bhadra Vs State of West Bengal, 2000 (1) JIC 751 (SC): 2000 (40) ACC 441 (SC), the Magistrate is not required to pass detailed reasoned order at the time of taking cognizance on the charge sheet, but it does not mean that order of taking cognizance can be passed by filling up the blanks on printed proforma. At the time of passing any judicial order including the order taking cognizance on the charge sheet, the Court is required to apply judicial mind and even the order of taking cognizance cannot be passed in mechanical manner. Therefore, the impugned order is liable to be quashed and the matter has to be sent back to the Court below for passing fresh order on the charge sheet after applying judicial mind."(Emphasis supplied) In view of the above, the conduct of the judicial officers concerned in passing orders on printed proforma by filling up the blanks without application of judicial mind is objectionable and deserves to be deprecated. The summoning of an accused in a criminal case is a serious matter and the order must reflect that Magistrate had applied his mind to the facts as well as law applicable thereto.
In view of what has been stated above, the present application is allowed. The order impugned dated 9.1.2019 passed by Sri Aniruddha Maurya, Presiding Officer, Additional Court No.4, Kanpur Nagar is hereby quashed. The Magistrate is directed to pass fresh order after applying the judicial mind.
Order Date :- 30.9.2019 T. Sinha