S.147 NI Act | Every Offence Under Negotiable Instruments Act Is Compoundable: Karnataka High Court

[14 June 2022] The Karnataka High Court said that Section 147 of the Negotiable Instruments Act makes every offence punishable under the Act as compoundable and there is no bar on parties to compound the offence. A single judge bench of Justice H.B. Prabhakara Sastry allowed the joint applications filed by accused Arun Vincent Rajkumar and complainant S Mala, seeking to compound the offence and agreeing to set aside the conviction handed down to the accused under Section 138 of the Act by the trial court and upheld by the appellate court, as a condition of amicable settlement arrived between them. The bench said, “Section 147 of the N.I. Act has made every offence punishable under the N.I. Act as compoundable. As such, there is no bar for the parties in the proceeding to compound the offence. However, at the same time, the guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Damodar S. Prabhu’s Case regarding imposing graded cost on litigant also is to be borne in mind.”