Triable issues on statutory notice and cheque memo remark bar quashing of cheque dishonour complaints at the threshold.

Whether statutory notice under the Negotiable Instruments Act was duly served, and whether the cheque return memo remark justified quashing, were held to be triable issues requiring evidence. The High Court, therefore, should not have quashed the complaint and criminal proceedings at the threshold under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, because both objections depended on factual adjudication rather than an indisputable record. The quashing orders were set aside and the complaints were directed to proceed in accordance with law.

---

---

Issues: Whether the High Court was justified in quashing the complaint and criminal proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 on the ground that the statutory notice was not duly served within time and, in one matter, on the basis of the cheque return memo remark.

Analysis: The question whether the statutory notice was duly served was held to be a triable issue requiring evidence and not an indisputable fact capable of being decided at the quashing stage. The same principle applied to the objection based on the cheque return memo remark. Since both grounds required factual adjudication, the High Court should not have interfered with the complaints in proceedings under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Conclusion: The quashing orders were not sustainable and the complaints were directed to proceed in accordance with law.

---