2026:CGHC:8046 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 564 of 2021 Elevation Logistic Pvt. Ltd. Through Keshav Upadhyay, Aged 38 Years, R/o Address 20-21, MLB Colony, Padav, Main Road, Gwalior (M.P.) 474001.

... Petitioner versus Tata Motors Finance Ltd. Corporate Office - Building A, 2nd Floor, Lodha I - Think Techno Campus, Pokhran Road 2, Thane (West) Maharashtra Branch Office Maruti Heights, Amanaka, GE Road, Raipur Chhattisgarh Through Authorized Person Mr. Braj Kishor Sharma., District : Raipur, Chhattisgarh ... Respondent For Petitioner : Mr. Anumesh Shrivastava, Advocate.

For Respondent : Mr. Devendra Pratap, Advcoate.

Hon'ble Mr. Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

Order on Board

13.02.2026 Digitally signed by PREETI PREETI KUMARI 1. Heard Mr. Anumesh Shrivastava, learned counsel appearing for the KUMARI Date:

2026.02.19

10:27:16 +0530 petitioner. Also heard Mr. Devendra Pratap, learned counsel, appearing for respondent.

2. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayer:-

“It is therefore, humbly prayed that this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased by allowing this petition thereby quashing the impugned order dated 25.04.2018 (Annexure-P/1 and criminal complaint bearing case no. 2180/2019 (Annexure-P/2) pending in the learned court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (Shri Deepak Kumar Sharma) Raipur, in the interest of justice.”

3. The prosecution story, in short, is that the petitioner is the Director of the firm, having its registered office at 20–21, Laxmi Bai Colony, MLB Road, Lashkar, Gwalior. The petitioner firm is engaged in the business of logistics and vehicles. It obtained a vehicle loan of Rs.26,00,000/- from the respondent, TMFL, Gwalior Branch, 45-A, Alaknanda Tower, Near HDFC Bank, City Centre, Gwalior, for purchase of a TATA LPK 2523 bearing registration No. UP 75 AT 0034. The loan was sanctioned vide Loan Contract No. 5001822268 dated 29.06.2015 by the respondent’s Gwalior office. At the time of sanction, the petitioner issued cheque bearing No. 000052 as a blank security cheque and retained a photocopy thereof. All loan documentation, including execution of agreements and submission of post-dated blank cheques as security, was completed at Gwalior. The vehicle was purchased from M/s S.G. Motors, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. The petitioner regularly paid installments from its bank account at Gwalior, which were credited to the respondent’s bank account at Gwalior. Due to business losses, the petitioner defaulted in timely payment of certain installments. The respondent invoked the arbitration clause in the hypothecation agreement and appointed a sole arbitrator, who was ineligible under Section 12(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. An ex parte award dated 29.04.2017 was passed.

4. The petitioner challenged the said award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 before the Court of the 7th Additional District Judge, Gwalior, which is pending as MJC (AV) No. 11/2018. Subsequently, the respondent, through its Raipur branch despite no part of the transaction having occurred at Raipur presented the security cheque for encashment at Raipur. The cheque was dishonoured, and a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 was filed before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Raipur, without jurisdiction. The learned Court, vide order dated 25.04.2018, took cognizance of the offence and issued a warrant against the petitioner without properly considering the provisions of Section 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The complaint is not maintainable for the following reasons: the cheque in question was issued as a blank security cheque at the time of loan sanction. As per settled law, Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 is not attracted to security cheques issued at the inception of a loan transaction. No part of the cause of action arose at Raipur. The loan agreement, hypothecation agreement, execution of