Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:21740 Court No. - 12 Case :- APPLICATION U/S 483 No. - 323 of 2025 Applicant :- Ajeet Kumar Rao Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. And Another Counsel for Applicant :- Dinesh Kumar Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Alok Mathur,J. 1. Heard learned counsel for applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material available on record. 2. By means of the present application under Section 483 Cr.P.C., the applicant has prayed for expeditious disposal of Complaint Case No. 99621 of 2021 (Ajeet Kumar Rao Vs. Susheel Kumar Pandey) under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 pending in the court of Additional Court, Room No. 1, Lucknow. 3. Learned counsel for applicant has submitted that the applicant had given Rs.15,00,000/- to opposite party no. 2. When the applicant demanded his money back, the opposite party no. 2 had given a cheque bearing No. 000423 amounting to Rs.15,00,000/- dated 30.09.2021. The applicant presented the said cheque before the bank for encashment but the same was dishonoured with regard "insufficient fund". The applicant sent a legal notice to opposite party no. 2 on 26.10.2021 with regard to dishonour of cheque. Despite legal notice, opposite party no. 2 failed to return the said amount. Thereafter the applicant filed a Complaint Case No. 99621 of 2021 (Ajeet Kumar Rao Vs. Susheel Kumar Pandey) under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 before the court of Additional Court, Room No. 1, Lucknow and the same is pending consideration. 4. It is urged that though the matter is being listed but for one reason or the other, Complaint Case No. 99621 of 2021 (Ajeet Kumar Rao Vs. Susheel Kumar Pandey) under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 pending in the court of Additional Court, Room No. 1, Lucknow is not being decided. 5. After arguing the matter at some length, learned counsel for applicant submits that trial Court may be directed to decide the Complaint Case No. 99621 of 2021 (Ajeet Kumar Rao Vs. Susheel Kumar Pandey) under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 in a time bound manner. 6. The Apex Court in the case of In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases under Section 138 N.I. Act, 1881, reported in 2021 SCC Online 325 has already issued following directions for expeditious trial u/s 138 N.I. Act as under:- "24. The upshot of the above discussion leads us to the following conclusions: 1) The High Courts are requested to issue practice directions to the Magistrates to record reasons before converting trial of complaints under Section 138 of the Act from summary trial to summons trial. 2) Inquiry shall be conducted on receipt of complaints under Section 138 of the Act to arrive at sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused, when such accused resides beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court. 3) For the conduct of inquiry under Section 202 of the Code, evidence of witnesses on behalf of the complainant shall be permitted to be taken on affidavit. In suitable cases, the Magistrate can restrict the inquiry to examination of documents without insisting for examination of witnesses. 4) We recommend that suitable amendments be made to the Act for provision of one trial against a person for multiple offences under Section 138 of the Act committed within a period of 12 months, notwithstanding the restriction in Section 219 of the Code. 5) The High Courts are requested to issue practice directions to the Trial Courts to treat service of summons in one complaint under Section 138 forming part of a transaction, as deemed service in respect of all the complaints filed before the same court relating to dishonour of cheques issued as part of the said transaction. . 7. At this stage, this Court is not inclined to interfere in the matter said matter. However, liberty is granted to the applicant to approach the trial Court and move an appropriate application detailing urgency for expeditious disposal of aforesaid case, along with the order passed by this Court, within two weeks from today, and in case, if such an application is moved, the trial Court shall consider and decide the same within three weeks thereafter, and in case any case for urgency is made out by the applicant, it shall pass appropriate orders thereupon, in accordance with law. 8. It is made clear that this Court has not examined the case of either of the parties on merit and the Court concerned shall decide the matter strictly in accordance with law. . (Alok Mathur, J.) Order Date :- 17.4.2025 Virendra Digitally signed by :- VIRENDRA KUMAR GUPTA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench