SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. - (1.)PETITIONER O.P. Mehra has filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing of criminal complaint No. 115 of 1998 (Annexure P-1), filed by respondent No. 1 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') as well as the summoning order and the other consequential proceedings.
(2.)THE petitioner is 85 years old senior citizen, who has served the country for about 35 years in the Indian Air Force, from where he retired as Air Chief Marshal. He was awarded Padam Vibhushan in the year 1977. The grouse of the petitioner is that he has been unnecessarily impleaded as an accused in the aforesaid complaint filed by respondent No. 1 under Section 138 of the Act and the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Chandigarh, without applying his mind and without there being sufficient averment and evidence against the petitioner on the record, he has summoned the petitioner as accused along with 8 other persons. Thus, the process of law and Court has been mis-used by respondent No. 1 to unnecessarily harass the old senior citizen.
(3.)In this case, respondent No. 1 filed criminal complaint No. 115 of 1998 under Section 138 of the Act. In the said complaint, 9 persons have been arrayed as accused. The petitioner has been arrayed as accused No. 9. In the complaint, it has been averred that a Public Limited Company styled as Sagar Suri Estates and Finance Limited issued two post-dated cheques, one for Rs. 10,000/- (principal amount) and another for Rs. 1,608/- (interest) to the complainant in discharge of its liability. The amount of Rs. 10,000/- was deposited by the complainant with the said Company in Fixed Deposit. The said cheques were signed by accused No. 8, the authorised signatory of the said Company. When these cheques were dishonoured, the aforesaid complaint was filed by Smt. Raj Kumari Bhalla through her husband Shri V.M. Bhalla as her agent.