1. The fate of petition on hand hinges on answer to the following two questions:-

(1) whether in a complaint under Section 138 of The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as "Act") the court within whose territorial jurisdiction, the collecting bank is located, would have the jurisdiction to entertain and deal with the complaint.

(2) whether the place of issue/despatch of demand notice in terms of Section 138 of the Act determines the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain and deal with the complaint under Section 138 of The Negotiable Instru#31;ments Act.

(3) Whether the complainant in the present case was competent to file the complaint.

Before we make an effort to find out answer to the above questions, it would be appropriate to have an overview of back ground facts.

2. The petitioner in the present petition, admittedly has business relationship with the respondent Company registered under Company's Act 1956 having its head office at Sheikh Bagh, Srinagar and Branch Office at Sopore, Jammu & Kashmir.

3. The petitioner on 23.12.2010 drew a cheque no. 3855999 for an amount of Rs. 29,58,746 drawn on Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. Branch, Imamsahib Shopian, in favour of t

Click Here to Read the rest of this document