JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises from a judgment dated 24 July 2019 of a Single Judge of the High Court of Delhi.

3. The appellant is the complainant in proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881¹[“NI Act”]. He seeks to question the order of a Single Judge by which the respondents were permitted to engage a hand-writing expert to seek an opinion on whether “the authorship on the questioned writings” (the disputed cheque) can be attributed to the respondents.

4. The respondent admits that he signed and handed over a cheque to the appellant. According to the respondent a signed blank cheque was handed over by him. The question which arises in the appeal is whether the High Court was correct in permitting the respondent to engage a hand-writing expert to determine whether the details that were filled in the cheque were in the hand of the respondent. For the reasons set out below, we have allowed this appeal against the order of the High Court for the reason that Section 139 of the NI Act raises a presumption that a drawer handing over a cheque signed by him is liable unless it is proved by adducing evidence at the tri