DEVENDRAKUMAR BHANWARLAL SHAH Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mr. Jani referring to the judgment in the case of G.J. Rana v. Tejraj Surana passed in Criminal Appeal no.1160 of 2019 dtd. 30/7/2019 submitted that the liability under Sec. 143A cannot be imposed on the accused with retrospective effect.

(2.) Countering the arguments, Advocate Mr. Patel referred to the endorsement of the advocate on behalf of the accused of his voluntarily proposing to deposit 20% of the cheque amount on the application moved by the complainant vide Exh.10 before the Trial Court, where he had proposed to deposit 20% of the cheque amount within a period of one month if the talks of settlement fails. The accused has now raised a legal issue to raise the ground that the direction issued on 17/9/2019 to pay 20% of the cheque amount within a period of 60 days by the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ahmedabad as a condition precedent would result in injustice.

(3.) It appears, as the record reflects that the accused himself had volunteered to deposit 20% of the cheque amount within a period of one month, in case the settlement talks fail, he would be estopped now from raising the legal issue that Sec. 143A would not have a retrospective effect.