In the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad
B. SIVA SANKARA RAO, J.
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd – Appellant
Versus
Subaiah Gas Agency & Others – Respondents
Criminal Appeal Nos. 1686 & 1687 of 2009
Decided On : 30-01-2015
Criminal law - Negotiable Instruments Act - Section 138 - Criminal Procedure Code - Section 255(2) – dishonor of cheque - Appeals are filed impugning Orders - Dishonored endorsing funds insufficient CRIMINAL Revision Petition Appellant and Respondents are after called as Complainant and accused for sake of convenience - Complainant filed against accused for offence punishable - Alleging that accused availed secured loan and over draft facility from Complainant that after disbursement of said loan on overdraft - Accused issued cheques to discharge respective dues and same were dishonored endorsing funds insufficient on respectively that after issuing statutory notice respectively - Complainant presented two complaints against both accused - Cases were taken on file against both accused Act and accused were examined Cr. P.C for which they pleaded not guilty and claimed for trial - After examination of witness on behalf of complainant and after perusal of respective documents marked on behalf of complainant - Since no documents marked on behalf of accused nor examined any witness on behalf of accused Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate passed Judgments in both cases – Held, Judge Bench expression of Apex Court in Leathers speaks that for every dishonor and statutory notice intimating dishonor to pay there is a cause of action accrual to avail and even after giving of notice a second presentation of cheque and on dishonor again giving of fresh statutory notice commences fresh cause of action from subsequent presentation and serving or deemed serving of notice in case of failure to pay within days there from and only thing is cheque must be within validity period by time of last dishonor - When such is law when statutory notice is not contemplated to mention cheque issued is for promote debt covered by revival but for cheque with particulars of cheque presented and return dishonored and demand to pay - Thereby non mention cannot be considered as a major ground much less to belie case of complainant bank against accused - It is there from trial Court held that inefficiency in drafting notice or complaint or non-mention of particulars of promote with revival for which cheque issued by themselves not fatal –Petition dismissed (Para 16 )
1. Both the appeals are filed impugning the orders dated 29.07.2009 in Criminal Revision Petition Nos.90 and 91 of 2007 on the file of IV Additional District and Sessions Judge, Visakhapatnam.
2. The Appellant and Respondents 1 and 2 are hereinafter called as Complainant and accused for the sake of convenience.
3. The facts in brief are that the Complainant filed C.C. Nos. 41 and 42 of 2005 against the accused for the offence punishable under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act (for short, ‘the Act’) on the file of II Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Visakhapatnam alleging that the accused availed secured loan and over draft facility from the Complainant, that after disbursement of the said loan on overdraft, the accused issued cheques to discharge the respective dues and the same were dishonoured endorsing ‘funds insufficient’ on 06.08.2004 and 31.08.2004 respectively, that after issuing the statutory notice respectively the Complainant presented two complaints against both the accused. The cases were taken on file against both the accused under Section 138 of the Act and the accused were examined under Section 251 Cr. P.C, for which they pleaded not guilty and claimed for trial. After examination of the witness P.W-1 on behalf of the complainant and after perusal of the respective documents marked on behalf of the complainant, since no documents marked on behalf of the accused nor examined any witness on behalf of the accused, the learned II Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Visakhapatnam passed Judgments in both the cases on 18.09.2007 respectively holding that A-1 and A-2 found guilty for the offence under Section 138 of the Act and convicted them under Section 255(2) of Cr. P.C and sentenced them to undergo simple imprisonment for three months in both the cases respectively and also directed to pay compensation of Rs.10,000/- and Rs.5,000/- respectively to the complainant.
4. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence the accused preferred criminal revision petitions before the learned II Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Visakhapatnam contending that the trial Court has not properly appreciated the evidence on record and failed to note complainant’s failure to prove legally enforceable debt or liability and the complainant introduced the existence of promissory note and revival letter at the time of trial, that the learned Magistrate erred in holding inefficiency in drafting the complaint is not a ground to reject the case of the complainant. After hearing both sides and after perusal of the revision grounds with other material on record, the learned IV Additional District and Sessions Judge, Visakhapatnam allowed the two revisions by setting aside the conviction Judgments of the trial Court dated 18.09.2007 in C.C. Nos.41 and 42 of 2005.
5. Against the said two revision reversal judgments the complainant presented the appeals contending that the revision Court below failed to note that the accused having borrowed secured over daft from the appellant bank by depositing title deeds of the house property and agreed to repay the loan amount with interest and executed necessary loan documents in favour of the complainant issued the cheques that were when presented dishonoured with a reason ‘funds insufficient’ for which the complainant issued legal notice, that the accused wantonly not claimed to receive the legal notice addressed to him which is evident from the postal returned cover with endorsement ‘not claimed’ which clearly establishes the fact of giving notice to the accused his failure to pay and ought to have confirmed the Judgment of the trial Court, that the revision Court below having noted the existence of legally enforceable debt especially when in the presence of promissory note and revival letters which are marked and the accused with an intention to discharge in part of the debt has issued the cheques, the complainant filed the pronote and revival letters and therefore t
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