Rule 54. Manner of composition of offence by a Gazetted Officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 89 and the manner of making application for the compounding of an offence specified under sub-section (4) of section 89

(1) The Officer notified by the State Government for the purposes of compounding of offences under sub- section (1) of section 89 (hereinafter referred to as the compounding officer), shall in the offences in which prosecution is not instituted, if the compounding Officer is of the opinion that any offence under the Code for which the compounding is permissible under section 89, he shall send a notice in writing to the accused in Form XXIII consisting of three parts. In part I of such Form, the compounding officer shall inter- alia specify the name of the offender and his other particulars, the details of the offence and in which section the offence has been committed, the compounding amount required to be paid towards the composition of the offence. Part II of the Form shall specify the consequences if the offence is not compounded and part III of the Form shall contain the application to be filed by the accused if he desires to compound the offence. Each notice shall have a continuous unique number containing alphabets or numeric and other details such as officer sending notice, year, place, type of inspection for the purpose of easy identification.

(2) The accused to whom the notice referred to in sub-rule (1) is served, may send the part III of the Form duly filled by him to the compounding Officer electronically or otherwise and deposit the compounding amount electronically or otherwise, within fifteen days of the receipt of the notice, in the account specified by the compounding Officer in the notice.

(3) Where the prosecution has already been instituted against the accused in the competent Court, he may make an application to the Court to compound the offence against him and the Court, after considering the application, may allow composition of the offence by the compounding Officer in accordance with provisions of section 89.

(4) If the accused complies with the requirement of sub-rule (2), the compounding officer shall compound the offence for the amount of money deposited by the accused and;

(a) if the offence is compounded before the prosecution, then no complaint for prosecution shall be instituted against the accused; and

(b) if the offence is compounded after institution of prosecution under sub-rule (3) with the permission of the Court, then, the compounding Officer shall treat the case as closed as if no prosecution had been launched and will proceed in accordance with composition as under clause (a) and intimate the composition of offence to the competent Court in which the prosecution is pending and after receiving such intimation, the Court shall discharge the accused and close the prosecution.

(5) The compounding Officer shall exercise the powers to compound the offence under this rule, subject to the direction, control and supervision of the State Government.