Successive cheque presentation can support Section 138 prosecution when statutory notice follows the later dishonour.

A cheque may be presented more than once within its validity period, and a prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act can be founded on the later dishonour if the statutory notice is issued after that dishonour. The absence of a complaint on the earlier dishonour does not bar a complaint based on the subsequent presentation, because successive presentations are not prohibited by law. Since the cheque was re-presented within validity and notice followed the second dishonour, the complaint was maintainable and the challenge to cognizance on the ground of prior dishonour failed.

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Issues: Whether a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 was maintainable on the basis of a subsequent presentation of the cheque and a statutory notice issued after the second dishonour.

Analysis: A cheque may be presented more than once within its validity period, and if it is dishonoured on a subsequent presentation, the payee may found a complaint on that dishonour after issuing the statutory notice required by law. The principle is that there is no prohibition against successive presentations of the same cheque, and a criminal complaint based on the later dishonour is not barred merely because no prosecution was launched on the earlier dishonour. On the facts, the cheque was re-presented within validity and the statutory notice was issued thereafter, so the complaint could not be treated as invalid.

Conclusion: The complaint was maintainable, and the challenge to cognizance on the ground of prior dishonour failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A subsequent presentation of a cheque within its validity period, followed by the requisite statutory notice after the later dishonour, supports a maintainable prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

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