1. Rule returnable forthwith. Mr. Dharmesh Devnani, the learned APP waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of the respondent No.1 State of Gujarat. Mr. Suraj Shukla, the learned advocate waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of the respondent No.2original first informant.

2. By this application under Section-482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the applicants-original accused seek to invoke the inherent powers of this Court praying for quashing of the proceedings of the Criminal Case No.9026 of 2017 pending before the Court of 11th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rajkot, arising from a complaint filed by the respondent no.2 herein for the offence of dishonour of cheques punishable under Section-138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

3. It appears from the materials on record that the applicant no.1 is a Partnership Firm. The applicants nos.2, 3 and 4 are the Partners of the Partnership Firm. In connection with some transactions relating to the plots of land, two cheques came to be drawn, duly signed by the applicant no.2 on behalf of the Partnership Firm in favour of the respondent no.2 – original complainant. The details of the cheques are as under:

(1) Cheque No.000321 drawn on the HDFC Bank, dated 05/05/2017 for the amount of Rs.8,00,000/-.

(2) Cheque No.000320 drawn on the HDFC Bank, dated 05/05/2017 for the amount of Rs.32,00,000/-.

4. It appears that after the cheques were issued, the applicants herein instructed their bank to stop the payment. In such circumstances, the two cheques referred to above, were not cleared. The complainant was informed about the same by his bank and on receipt of the intimation from the bank about the dishonour of the cheques, the respondent no.2 issued a statutory notice to the applicants herein dated 11/08/2017. The two paragraphs in the statutory notice are important for the purpose of deciding this matter. The last two paragraphs of the legal notice issued by the respondent no.2 – complainant reads as under:

(6) As mentioned above, the cheques given by your partners of the partnership firm, has returned and whereas, the cheques given to my client by you, was as per accounts of the partnership firm, has returned and whereas, till date you have not bothered to pay the amount towards the share of my client and therefore, you have tried to commit an offence as Section406, 420 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code of criminal breach of trust as well as cheating and conditions of partnership and committed an offence as per section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

(7) By serving this final notice to the partnership firm no.1 and partners nos.2, 3 and 4 my client is informing you that within 15 days of receipt of the present notice, pay the amount liable as per accounts of the firm to my client or else by pursuing legal recourse my client is legally entitled to recover damages/compensation.

5. As the applicants failed to make the payment during the statutory time period, as provided in law, the respondent no.2 lodged a complaint, which came to be registered as the Criminal Case No.9026 of 2017 in the Court of 11th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rajkot. The court concerned after recording the verification of the complainant on oath, issued process to the applicants herein for the offence punishable under Section138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

6. Being dissatisfied with such order of issue of process, the applicants are here before this Court seeking quashing of the complaint and the order of the process.

7. The principal argument or rather the only argument canvassed by the learned counsel appearing for the applicants is that the legal notice issued by the respondent no.2 could not be said to be in accordance with law. The argument of the learned counsel is that if the notice is read as a whole, then it is clear that there is no specific demand of a particular amount. According to the learned counsel, it is not just sufficient to state in the n