( 1 ) THIS appeal is preferred by the complainant in C. C. No. 783 of 1995 on the file of the XI Metropolitan Magistrate, secunderabad taken on file for the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments act, 1881 (for short the Act ).

( 2 ) THE factual matrix leading to the filing of this appeal is briefly as under :

( 3 ) THE accused approached the complainant with a proposal for bill discounting facility for which the complainant accepted. The bills were discounted on 23-12- 1994 and after deducting the commission the balance amount was paid to the accused. The facility was given for 90 days. The accused has given post-dated cheque bearing no. 880944 dated 23-3-1995 for Rs, 26,12,742/- drawn on United Western Bank limited, Hyderabad. Subsequent to the date of issuing the cheque, the accused paid Rs. 12,50,000/- on 25-4-1995 and promised to settle the account by the end of May 1995. On 9-6-1995 the complainant company wrote a letter to the accused requesting to settle the account before 15-6-1995, otherwise it will present the cheque on 16-6-1995. Since there was no effort from the accused to settle the account, on 16-6-1995 the complainant presented t