Karnataka HC Lowers Sentence-Suspension Deposit In 10 Section 138 Appeals To 20% Of Cheque Amount, Due In 4 Weeks

The petitioners, accused No. 2 in proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, challenged appellate orders requiring them to deposit 25% of the fine as a condition of suspension of sentence.

The fine was twice the cheque amount, and the appellate court had allowed six weeks for deposit.

The petitioners submitted that the required deposit would be ₹25 lakh each and argued that the underlying payments had been made to a company, not to the individual petitioners.

The respondents relied on their status as senior citizens, the time taken to secure the convictions, and the petitioners’ alleged capacity to pay.

The High Court considered the challenged orders in connected petitions.

The petitions invoked the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, corresponding to Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, as stated in the petition descriptions.

The underlying convictions and appellate proceedings concerned Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

The judgment does not cite a precedent or set out a general statutory formula for the deposit; it modifies the condition in light of the circumstances and the petitioners’ undertaking to pursue the appeals promptly.

The Court noted that the fine was double the cheque amount and that the trial proceedings had taken eight years.

It also considered the petitioners’ submission that each would otherwise have to deposit ₹25 lakh and that the payments in question had been made to a company.

Rather than determine that contention at this stage, the Court made the reduced deposit conditional on the petitioners addressing it before the appellate court within two months and not seeking adjournments.

The respondents’ senior-citizen status also informed the direction for expedition.

Each petitioner was directed to deposit 20% of the cheque amount—not 20% of the fine—before the trial court within four weeks; the amount is to remain in a nationalised bank for one year with auto-renewal.

The petitioners were required to address arguments before the appellate court within two months and not seek adjournments; if they sought an adjournment, they would lose the benefit of the interim order, and the trial court would proceed as if sentence suspension had not been granted.