New Delhi, June 2 -- Banks cannot start criminal prosecution proceedings against a borrower after voluntarily entering into and fully acting upon a settlement of the dispute, the Supreme Court ruled, holding that such conduct demonstrates a lack of good faith and amounts to an abuse of the process of law. A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan quashed a CBI chargesheet and criminal proceedings initiated against a company and its directors years after a nationalised bank settled its dues through an arrangement approved by the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT). "If such a conduct is overlooked and prosecution is allowed to continue, many persons including commercial entities would be hesitant to come forward and seek resolution of their disputes arising out of banking transactions which are after all commercial transactions, having predominantly elements of civil dispute(s)." "This in turn would have a debilitating effect on the overall economy, more so, when the focus is on settlement of commercial disputes," Justice Bhuyan, writing for the bench, held last week....