The prayer in the Criminal M.Cs. is to quash C.C. Nos. 971/93, 974/93 and 207/94 pending before the Judicial First Class Magistrate-IV. Kozhikode. The petitioner in the Criminal M.Cs. is the accused in all the three cases and the respondent is the complainant. Complaints under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short 'the Act' are filed by the respondent against the petitioner and process was issued to him. The petitioner seeks to quash the complaints on the ground that those are not maintainable as the respondent/complainant is not the payee or holder in due course. According to counsel for the petitioner only the payee or the holder in due course can institute a complaint and as the complainant does not satisfy the definition of either, the complainants filed by him should not have been taken cognizance by the court below.

2. The cheques in question were drawn in favour of R. Ganapathi Iyer, father of the respondent/complainant. The cheques are dated 3-5-1993 and 12-5-1993. Father of the respondent died on 19-5-1993. It is stated in the complaints that Ganapathi lyer executed a will and the complainant and his brother were made the executors unde