The cheque must be presented to the drawer's bank within six months to attract criminal liability under S.138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

1 Leave granted.

2(a) What is meant by, "the bank" as mentioned in clause (a) of the proviso to S.138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ?
(b) Does such bank mean the bank of the drawer of the cheque or covers within its ambit any bank including the collecting bank of the payee of the cheque ?
(c) To which bank the cheque is to be presented for the purposes of attracting the penal provisions of S.138 of the Act ?
are the questions to be determined by this court in this appeal.

3The Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of Om Parkash v. Gurcharan Singh 1997 3 Crimes 433; 1998 (92) Comp Cas 398 and the Gujarat High Court in Arunbhai Nilkanthrai Nanavati v. Jayaben Prahladbhai through Her Power of Attorney 1999 3 Crimes 252; 2000 (100) Comp Cas 828 have held that a cheque must be presented to the bank on which it is drawn within six months from the date of issue of the cheque. However, the Madras High Court in A.B.K. Publications Ltd. v. Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd. 1999 3 Crimes 97 (Mad) has taken the view that cheque can be presented either in the payee's bank or in the drawer bank and the date of presentation in the respective bank will be reckoned for calculating the period of six months from the date it was drawn.

4In the present case the High Court of Madhya Pradesh has endorsed the view of the Madras High Court and disagreed with the views of the Punjab and Haryana and Gujarat High Courts.

5The admitted facts of the case are that the appellant issued Cheque No. 2477086 dated July 21, 1997, for Rs. 10 lakhs drawn on the State Bank of Indore, Industrial Estate Branch, Indore in favour of the respondent. The respondent presented the cheque for payment on September 26, 1997, which was returned unpaid. Again on January 20, 1998, the respondent presented the cheque to its bank, i.e., State Bank of India at Raipur. The cheque reached the drawer bank on January 24, 1998, admittedly after six months from the date it became payable. The cheque was returned unpaid by the bank of the respondent on February 3, 1998. A notice as required under proviso (b) to S.138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act was issued on February 10, 1998, which was received by the appellant on February 16, 1998. A criminal complaint under S.138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act was filed in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Raipur against the appellant in which notice was issued for appearing in the court on September 23, 1998. The appellant filed Criminal Revision No. 190 of 1998 in the Court of Sessions Judge, Raipur contending that as the cheque was presented for payment beyond the period of six months as prescribed under proviso (a) to S.138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), no offence was made out, to be taken cognizance of. The revision was allowed by the Sessions Court on July 3, 1999. The respondent filed a further revision in the High Court which was allowed vide the order impugned holding, as noticed earlier, that the cheque can be presented within the six months before the drawer's (payee's) bank or it can be presented before the drawer as well as the payee's bank.

6Before adverting to the various provisions of law as applicable in the case, it has to be kept in mind that the law relating to negotiable instruments is the law of the commercial world which was enacted to facilitate the activities in trade and commerce making provision for giving sanctity to instruments of credit which could be deemed to be convertible into money and easily passable from one person to another. In the absence of such instruments, the trade and commerce activities were likely to be adversely affected as it was not practicable for the trading community to carry with it the bulk of the currency in force. The introduction of negotiable instruments owes its origin to the bartering system prevalent in primitive society. Negotiable instruments are, in fact, instruments of credit being convertible on a