PADMINI JESUDURAI J.

The accused against whom the respondent has filed a compliant, pending before the XIV Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, Madras at C. C. No. 21500 of 1989, for an offence under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, as amended by Act 66 of 1988, has filed the present application under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, to quash the above proceedings. According to the complaint, on January 13, 1989, the petitioner issue a cheque, post-dated as April 18, 1989, for a sum of Rs. 3, 50, 000 drawn on the Bank of Madura Ltd., Annamalai Nagar Branch, Chidambaram. The allegation in the complaint is that the petitioner requested the respondent not to present the cheque before April 18, 1989. The respondent presented the cheque at his bank, viz., the Indian Bank, Egmore, Madras, on September 9, 1989. The Indian Bank, having received a communication from the Bank of Madura Ltd., Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, that the above cheque had been returned with an endorsement "refer to drawer" for want of funds in the petitioner's account, communicated the same to the respondent on September 19, 1989. The respondent, on October 2, 1989, gave no