Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the legality of the judgment rendered by a learned Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court holding that the proceedings initiated on the basis of a complaint alleging infraction of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (in short the ‘Act’) was not maintainable. Therefore, the proceedings were quashed, allowing the petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short ‘the Code’).

3. Background facts filtering out unnecessary details are as under:

The complaint was filed by the appellant alleging that in the year 1995 respondent No.1 had issued a cheque for a sum of Rs. 5,15,053.72 representing balance amount payable to the appellant for supply of goods to a partnership firm of which respondents are partners. It was indicated that the total amount payable was Rs. 49,21,482.72 as against which the accused persons had paid Rs. 44,06,429/-, leaving balance of Rs. 5,15,053.72. A cheque [drawn on Oriental Bank of Commerce, Ladwa branch (Account No. 954)] was issued for the same amount on 27.1.1995. The cheque was signed by respondent No.1 Yashpal Singh, for the fir