CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and connected case 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Date of Decision : October 13, 2011 CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 Ashu Jain w/o Sh. Raman Kumar and another .... PETITIONERS Vs. State of Haryana and another ..... RESPONDENTS CRM No. M-18605 of 2009 Sanjeev Kumar Talwar and others .... PETITIONERS Vs. State of Haryana and another ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH * * * Present : Mr. Veneet Sharma, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. Raja Sharma, AAG, Haryana, for respondent No. 1. Mr. H.S.Sullar, Advocate, for respondent No. 2. * * * AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) By this order, I propose to dispose of CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and CRM No. M-18605 of 2009, wherein prayer has been made for quashing of FIR No. 429 dated 29.11.2006 under Sections 406, 420, 506, 120-B IPC registered at Police Station Shahbad, District Kurukshetra (Annexure P-4) and order dated 05.09.2008 passed by the Additional Chief CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and connected case 2 Judicial Magistrate, Kurukshetra (Annexure P-7), vide which the FIR has been treated as a complaint and the petitioners have been summoned as accused. (In Crl. Misc. No. M-18605 of 2009, these are Annexures P-5 and P-8 respectively). Counsel for the petitioners contends that the present FIR emanates from an agreement dated 20.02.2006, which was entered into between petitioner No. 1 Smt. Ashu Jain and respondent No. 2 Rakesh Kumar. The dispute was primarily civil in nature and there was a civil suit also filed by the complainant Rakesh Kumar for recovery of the earnest money. During the pendency of the present proceedings before this Court, an amicable settlement of the dispute has been entered into, according to which, petitioners have agreed to pay ` 7 lacs to respondent No. 2 Rakesh Kumar-complainant towards full and final settlement of the claim and the dispute pending between the parties which includes the present FIR, which has been treated as a complaint as also the civil suit preferred by Rakesh Kumar-respondent No. 2 for recovery of earnest money. It has further been agreed between the parties that on receipt of ` 7 lacs, respondent No. 2 shall withdraw the suit for recovery filed by him on the next date of hearing fixed before the trial Court. In the light of the compromise, which has been entered into between the parties and which fact stands recorded in order dated 25.08.2011 passed by this Court, counsel for the petitioners has produced a demand draft bearing No. 683134 dated 08.10.2011 drawn at State Bank of Patiala, Rayya, amounting to ` 7 lacs in Court, which has been handed over to Sh. Rakesh Kumar-respondent No. 2, who is present in Court and has been identified by his counsel. Sh. Rakesh Kumar has accepted the said draft towards full and final settlement of his claim and states that the CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and connected case 3 suit for recovery filed by him, in the light of the compromise entered into between the parties, shall be withdrawn by him on the next date of hearing before the trial Court. He further states that he does not have any objection to the quashing of FIR No. 429 dated 29.11.2006 which he had got registered against the petitioners as also order dated 05.09.2008 passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kurukshetra treating the said FIR, on the basis of the protest petition filed by him, as a criminal complaint, in which the petitioners have been summoned. In the light of the statement made by respondent No. 2-Sh. Rakesh Kumar son of Sh. Purshotam Dass, who is complainant in FIR No. 429 dated 29.11.2006 and has been treated as a complaint vide order dated 05.09.2008 and also keeping in view the amicable settlement of the dispute between the parties, which would go a long way to bring together the parties who were at logger heads earlier and would be in the interest of the society as such the continuation of the present proceedings would not be conducive to such an atmosphere, which has been now created by the amicable settlement of the dispute, the interest of justice would be duly served by bringing an end to the said criminal proceedings, which have been initiated by respondent No. 2 Rakesh Kumar. A Larger Bench of this Court in the case of Kulwinder Singh & Ors. vs. State of Punjab & Anr. 2007 (3) RCR (Criminal) 1052, while discussing the scope of quashing of prosecution on the basis of compromise, in exercise of powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C., even in non-compoundable offence(s), has held as under:- “28. The compromise, in a modern society, is the sine qua non of harmony and orderly behaviour. It is the soul of justice and if the power under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. is used to CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and connected case 4 enhance such a compromise which, in turn, enhances the social amity and reduces friction, then it truly is “finest hour of justice”. Disputes which have their genesis in a matrimonial discord, landlord-tenant matters, commercial transactions and other such matters can safely be dealt with by the Court by exercising its powers under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. in the event of a compromise, but this is not to say that the power is limited to such cases. There can never be any such rigid rule to prescribe the exercise of such power, especially in the absence of any premonitions to forecast and predict eventualities which the cause of justice may throw up during the course of a litigation. 29. The only inevitable conclusion from the above discussion is that there is no statutory bar under the Cr.P.C. which can affect the inherent power of this Court under Section 482. Further, the same cannot be limited to matrimonial cases alone and the Court has the wide power to quash the proceedings even in non-compoundable offences notwithstanding the bar under Section 320 of the Cr.P.C. in order to prevent the abuse of law and to secure the ends of justice.” In view of the above statement of the complainant-respondent No. 2-Rakesh Kumar and in the light of the observations made by the Larger Bench of this Court, the interest of justice would be duly served if the FIR in question and order dated 05.09.2008 are quashed. Accordingly, these petitions are allowed by quashing FIR No. 429 dated 29.11.2006 under Sections 406, 420, 506, 120-B IPC registered CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and connected case 5 at Police Station Shahbad, District Kurukshetra as also order dated 05.09.2008 passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kurukshetra treating the protest petition filed by the complainant Rakesh Kumar as a complaint and summoning the petitioners and all consequential proceedings emanating therefrom. (AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) October 13, 2011 JUDGE pj CRM No. M-18343 of 2009 and connected case 6