Section 138 liability requires cheque signatory status; a joint account holder who did not sign cannot be prosecuted.

Under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, criminal liability attaches only to the drawer and signatory of the cheque issued in discharge of a debt or liability. A joint account holder who did not sign the cheque cannot be prosecuted merely because the account was jointly maintained, and the complaint against such a person is liable to be quashed. The issue of statutory notice was treated as a matter for trial, but it did not cure the fundamental defect that the petitioner was not the cheque signatory. The Delhi HC therefore set aside the complaint against the petitioner.

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Issues: Whether a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act could be maintained against a joint account holder who was not a signatory to the cheque, and whether the complaint deserved to be quashed as an abuse of process.

Analysis: Liability under Section 138 arises only where the cheque is drawn by the person sought to be prosecuted and that person is the signatory to the cheque issued in discharge of a debt or liability. In the case of a joint account, prosecution cannot be maintained against a joint account holder unless the cheque is signed by each joint account holder. The issue regarding service of statutory notice was treated as a matter for trial, but that question did not alter the more fundamental defect that the cheque was signed only by the petitioner's late husband and not by the petitioner herself.

Conclusion: The complaint could not be maintained against the petitioner and was liable to be quashed.

Final Conclusion: The petition was allowed and the criminal complaint against the petitioner was set aside on the ground that she was not the signatory to the cheque from the joint account.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, prosecution lies only against the drawer and signatory of the cheque, and a joint account holder who has not signed the cheque cannot be made criminally liable merely because the account was jointly maintained.

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