The existence of a legally enforceable debt under Section 138 of the NI Act must be determined at trial, and factual disputes cannot be resolved at the pre-trial stage.

ORDER

Mr. Harkesh Manuja, J. (Oral)

By way of present petition, prayer has been made for quashing of complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (for short, NI Act") as well as summoning order dated 08.05.2023 passed by the Court below, whereby the petitioner has been summoned.

2. On account of dishonour of cheque bearing No.803624 dated 31.01.2023, amounting to Rs.5,50,000/-, issued by the petitioner, the respondent-complainant filed a complaint under Section 138 of the NI Act. Relevant portion from the complaint is extracted hereunder:-

"1. ......

2. That, on 17.09.2021, the accused borrowed Rs.21,999.97 paisa through money gram from son of the complainant who is working at abroad i.e. Australia. On 02.02.2022 the accused Received Rs. 99,999.79 paisa from son of the complainant through money gram. On 07.02.2022 the accused received Rs. 1,00,000.23 paisa from son of the complainant, through money gram. Thereafter, on demand of the accused son of the complainant got transferred an amount of Rs. 50,000/- to the account of the accused from account of his friend Manpreet Singh Arora of Amritsar on 24.02.2022 On 02.03.2022 the complainant paid Rs. 1,00,000/- to the accused which he transferred in his account from with SBI Tibri Tehsil & Distt. Gurdaspur. Again on 04.03. 2022 the complainant paid Rs. 1,00,000/- to the accused which he transferred in account of the accused from his account from SBI Tibri Tehsil and Distt. Gurdaspur. On 30.03.2022 the complainant paid Rs. 40,000/- to the accused which he transferred in account of the accused from his account from SBI Tibri Tehsil and Distt. Gurdaspur. In this way the accused has received an amount of Rs. 5,12,000/- from the complainant and his son on different dates for domestic needs.

3. That, 11.12.2022 the accused came to house of the complainant at about 7.30 P.M. and in order to make the payment of above mentioned money and to discharge his legally enforceable liabilities issued postdated cheque No. 803624 dated 31.01.2023 for Rs. 5,50,000/- (Rs. Five Lakh Fifty thousand only) and received an amount of Rs. 38,000/- in cash from the complainant. The above said cheque pertains to State Bank of India, branch Guru Nanak Nagar, Street No.12 Patiala, issued by the accused from his account No. 55149585935 in favour of the complainant in order to make the payment of amount borrowed by him from the complainant and his son and to discharge his debt liability. At the time of issuance of cheque you the accused assured the complainant that the accused assured that he has sufficient amount in his account to meet the requirements of the cheque. The cheque is duly signed & issued by the accused. The complainant accepted the cheque in a good faith.

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7. That, thereafter, the complainant again approached the accused & told him about dishonouring of the cheque and also requested to either make payment of cheque amount in cash or through demand draft. But the accused told the complainant that due to unavoidable circumstances, the accused could not keep sufficient money in his account and requested the complainant to present the cheque after 10 days and by that time he will have deposited sufficient amount in his account to meet requirements of the cheque. In the meantime the complainant also came to know that the accused has transferred an amount of Rs. 70,000/- on 31.12.2022 and Rs. 50,000/- on 31.01.2023 in the account of the complainant.

8. That, thereafter, the complainant again presented the cheque in question on 10.03.2023 after deducting the above mentioned amount of Rs. 1,20,000/- which the accused has transferred in the account of the complainant. Endorsement to this effect has also been given on back side of the cheque. But the cheque issued by the accused was again dishonoured and was returned to bankers of the complainant with remarks of "Funds Insufficient vide memo dated 10.03.2023........"

3. In the aforesaid complaint, vide order dated 08.05