SNS IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MUMBAI APPELLATE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.1804 OF 2009 WITH CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.1805 OF 2009 Pramod Kumar Bhuchar ...Petitioner. v. Savlani Trading and Investment Co. through its director, M/s. Hemant J. Garg and Ors. ...Respondents. Mr. Vishwajeet V. Mohite a/w Siddharth R. Karpe i/by M/s. YKS Legal, advs. for the Petitioner. Ms Sapana Rachure i/by T.N.Tripathi and Co., adv. For the Respondent No.1. Smt.V.R.Bhosale, APP for the R.No.3. CORAM : J.H. BHATIA, J. DATED : AUGUST 11, 2010 P.C. 1 Heard the petitioner. He is one of the accused persons in criminal case nos.1210/S/2002 and 1211/S/2002. Respondent no. 1/complainant has filed complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against the company and its directors. Applicant claims to be non-executing director. He was served and he either personally appeared or he is represented by advocate on every date. Matter is pending since 2002. According to the petitioner, remaining accused persons are not yet served. Therefore, the case could - 2 - not proceed further and he is put to unnecessary inconvenience due to the pendency of the matter for long time. Therefore, he seeks direction to separate the trial against him from the other accused and to proceed with the trial as far as he is concerned. The learned counsel for the respondent no.1/complainant is not in a position to state how many persons are so far served though according to her steps have been taken for service. It appears that applicant has been granted permanent exemption from personal appearance in the matter still he is required to engage some lawyer to represent him on every date for which he has spent money. In view of the above circumstances, following order will meet the ends of justice: 2 The complainant shall take steps to serve all the accused persons and in case all of them are served within three months from this date, trial shall be expedited and and the case shall be disposed off as early as possible. In case, some of the accused are not served within stipulated period, the trial Court shall separate the trial against the accused persons , who are served, from those, who are not served and shall proceed with the trial as against the accused persons who are served till that time. 3 Both the petitions stand disposed of accordingly. (J.H. BHATIA,J.)