I.A. Ansari, J.

1. The prime question, which this criminal revision has raised, is this: whether the date of drawing of a cheque or the period of validity of a cheque shall, for the purpose of computing the period of limitation of six months, as prescribed by Clause (a) of the proviso to Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (in short, 'the NI Act'), include the date on which the cheque is drawn by the drawer. Yet another equally important question, raised in this criminal revision, is: whether the period of limitation shall, as prescribed by Clause (a) of the proviso to Section 138 of the NI Act be computed from the date of presentation of the cheque to the payee's bank or from the date of presentation of the cheque to the drawee bank?

2. The opposite party herein has lodged, as complainant, a complaint, on 13.04.2005, in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Golaghat, and this complaint has given rise to CR Case No. 463/2005, the complaint's case being, in brief, thus: The complainant is the President of Golaghat Truck Owners Association, which is an association of carrying and handling contractors of the Food Corporation of India. The accused has been hiri