JUDGMENT

Arun Kumar, J.-Leave granted in all the appeals.

2. These appeals involve a pure question of law as to applicability of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as "Act") to a case in which a person issuing a post dated cheque stops its payment by issuing instructions to the drawee bank before the due date of payment. The facts involved in all the appeals are almost similar except variations in dates and amounts of cheques involved in each case. For purpose of this judgment we have taken the facts in Criminal Appeal No. 315/2003 (arising out of SLP (Crl.) 2742/2002. The facts are in a very narrow compass. Respondent No.1 addressed a letter to the appellant on 20th July, 1992 enclosing therewith ten post-dated cheques, each for an amount of Rs. 40,000/- by way of refund of amount due from him to the appellant. The two cheques subject matter of the present appeal were dated 10.12.1994 and 10.4.1995. On 12th February, 1993 respondent No.1 again wrote to the appellant denying his liability to pay the amount under the aforesaid cheques on the ground that they were issued under a mistaken belief of liability and asked the appellant to treat the