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 t