The petitioner, accused in C.C.No.3316/06 which has been taken on file by the VII Metropolitan Magistrate, George Town, Chennai, seeks to quash the aforesaid proceedings pending against him.
2. The allegation is that, in order to clear the liability that arose from the business transaction, the petitioner issued a Cheque No.00005, dated 07.06.2005, for Rs.2,00,000/-, drawn on Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., 555, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai-18 in favour of the respondent with a request to deposit the same during December and that, on 07.12.2005 the respondent had presented the cheque for collection but it was returned on 08.12.2005 with an endorsement "Insufficient Funds".
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner by stating that in order to fasten criminal liability on an accused person, limitation aspect as prescribed in the Act must be strictly adhered to, would submit that in the case on hand, the cheque reached the drawer's bank beyond the limitation period of six months. Learned counsel relied on a case law reported in (2001) 3 SCC 609, SHRI ISHAR ALLOY STEELS LTD. V. JAYASWALS NECO LTD., to substantiate his submission. The learned counsel for the respondent/complainant conceded that there was a delay of only one day.
4.Perused the materials available on record with reference to the submissions made.
5.No doubt, an aggrieved person has got right to invoke the special enactment to proceed against the accused, at the same time, one should be aware of the procedure involved, for, Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act envisages certain restrictions and limitations to be followed. The limitation prescribed being six months even a delay of one day in presenting the document would take away its validity. In the case on hand, admittedly the cheque reached the bank of the drawer beyond the limitation period of six months. In such circumstances, taking note of the following observations of the Apex Court in the decision referred to above, "A combined reading of
Sections 3,72 and 138 of the Act would leave no doubt in our mind that the law mandates the cheque to be presented at the bank on which it is drawn if the drawer is to be held criminally liable. Such presentation is necessarily to be made within six months at the bank on which the cheque is drawn, whether presented personally or through another bank, namely, the collecting bank of the payee.`", I am of the considered view that this is a fit case to quash the proceeding.
Accordingly, the proceedings pending as against the petitioner in C.C.No.3316 of 2006 on the file of the Metropolitan Magistrate, GT, Chennai are quashed. The criminal Original petition is allowed. Connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
08-4-2009 vri Index:yes/no Website:yes/no To The Public Prosecutor, High Court, Madras.
R.REGUPATHI,J.
vri Crl.O.P.No.24821 of 2006 08.04.2009