In A.S. Pharma Pvt. Ltd. v. Nayati Medical Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. [2024] 7 S.C.R. 1476 : 2024 INSC 690, a question arose before the Supreme Court is whether High Court justified in exercising its inherent power under Section 482, Cr.P.C and the power under Section 147, N.I. Act, 1881 to compound the offence u/s.138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, despite the non-consent of the complainant-appellant.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court answered it in the negative by holding that the question whether the offence under Section 138, N.I. Act could be compounded invoking the power under Section 147, N.I. Act, without consent of the complainant concerned, is no longer res integra. In short, the position is ‘that an offence under Section 138, N.I. Act could be compounded under Section 147 thereof, only with the consent of the complainant concerned’. In that view of the matter, the impugned judgment of the High Court wherein despite the absence of the consent of the appellant-complainant compounded the offence under Section 138, N.I. Act, on the ground that the appellant was equitably compensated, could not be sustained.