IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.1919 OF 2008 Ved Prakash Goyal ..Petitioner Vs. The State of Trading Corporation of India Ltd. & anr. ..Respondents WITH WRIT PETITION NO.1920 OF 2008 Surajbhan Oils Ltd. & anr. ..Petitioners Vs. The State of Trading Corporation of India Ltd. & anr. ..Respondents WITH WRIT PETITION NO.1921 OF 2008 M/s.Vishnu Oil and Vanaspati Ltd. and ors. ..Petitioners. Vs. The State Trading Corporation of India and anr. ..Respondents - Ms.Ushakiran Srivastava i/b. M/s. Consulta Juris, Advocate for petitioners. - Mr.B.Joseph i/b. Mr.Sanjay Udeshi, Advocate for Respondent no.2. - Ms.A.T.Jhaveri, APP for respondent State. CORAM : A. S. OKA, J. DATE : 2nd May, 2009 JUDGMENT 1 Rule. Learned Counsel appearing for first respondent waives service. Learned APP waives service for State of Maharashtra. Considering contravercy involved, the petitions are immediately taken up for final disposal . 2 The petitioners have been arraigned as accused in complaints filed by first respondent alleging commission of offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument’s Act, 1881. Writ petitions were filed in this Court by the petitioners for challenging order of issue of process on the said private complaint. By order dated 17th October 2007 this Court did not entertain writ petitions with liberty to the petitioner to approach the Sessions Court by way of a Revision Application under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. As there was a delay in preferring Revision Application, Applications for condonation of delay were filed by the petitioners. By the impugned order dated 8th August, 2008 the said applications have been dismissed on the ground that the plea by the accused has already been recorded. The learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that apart from the submissions on merits, a contention was raised by the petitioners that the Court of the learned Magistrate had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint and even the said contention has not been decided. 3 The submission of the learned Counsel appearing for first respondent is that now the trial has commenced and there is no merit in any of the contentions. He, therefore, submitted that no interference was called for. 4 I have carefully considered the submissions. The petitioners had earlier approached this Court by way of writ petitions for challenging the order of issue of process. This Court had dismissed the said writ petitions with a liberty to the petitioners to avail of remedy of Revision Application under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The Applications for condonation of delay in filing Revision Applications filed by the petitioners have been rejected by the learned Additional Sessions Judge mainly on the ground that plea has been recorded. This Court did not entertain the earlier writ petitions filed by petitioners as it was felt that the Sessions Court will go into the challenge raised by the petitioners. In view of the liberty granted by this Court, the Sessions Court ought to have decided the Revision Applications on merits. The Sessions Court ought to have condoned the delay so that the Revision Applications could be considered on merits. Hence, I pass the following order :- i. Impugned orders passed by the Sessions Court are quashed and set aside. Delay in preferring Revision Applications is condoned. ii. The parties are directed to appear before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Mumbai on 22nd June, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Learned Additional Sessions Judge shall himself hear the Revision Applications or may transfer the Revision Applications to appropriate Court for final disposal. iii. Revision Applications shall be decided as expeditiously as possible and in any event on or before 6th August, 2009. iv. All contentions of the parties are expressly kept open. Ad-interim relief granted by this Court on 11th November, 2008 shall continue to operate till the disposal of the Revision Application. v. Rule made absolute in the above terms. [ A. S. Oka, J. ] wp1909