1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 576 OF 2009 Mr. Manoj Ramsahay Upadhyaya, Prop. of M/s. Mahendra Krushi Sewa Kendra. ... Applicant. V/s. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ... Respondents. Mr. M.K. Kocharekar i/b. M/s. Vaibhav & Assoc. for the Applicant. Mr. O.S. Kutty for Respondent 2. Ms. P.P. Bhosle, APP for the State. CORAM : S.C. DHARMADHIKARI,J. DATED : 25th JANUARY 2010. P.C. :- The challenge in this Writ Petition is to an order passed by the learned Magistrate issuing process on a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. 2. What I find from a perusal of the complaint and the verification statement is that the Applicant/Accused is residing in Amravati District of the State of Maharashtra. To be precise, he is carrying on business as sole-proprietor at Paratwada, in Amravati District. 3. The complaint is filed in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Vashi, Navi Mumbai. 2 4. I have already taken a view that whenever such complaints are made over or instituted in the Court of the Magistrate, who does not have jurisdiction otherwise, then, he is obliged to made enquiry either by himself or in the manner provided by Section 202(1) of Cr.P.C. I have held that this provision is mandatory. In the present case, the Accused is not within the area of jurisdiction of the concerned Magistrate. Therefore, the order issuing process could not have been passed straight away. 5. In the result, the said order is set aside and it is directed that the Magistrate will take such steps as are stipulated by Section 202(1) of Cr.P.C. as amended and thereafter, take further proceedings in accordance with law. Let such exercise be carried out by the concerned Magistrate within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of this order. Petition allowed accordingly. (S.C. DHARMADHIKARI,J.)