Statutory notice service under cheque dishonour law fails when delivery is not duly proved by proper address and acknowledgment.

Valid service of the statutory demand notice is a foundational precondition to prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The presumption of service under Section 27 of the General Clauses Act arises only when the notice is properly addressed, prepaid and posted, while Section 114 of the Evidence Act permits only a rebuttable presumption based on proved facts. On the facts noted, one acknowledgment was signed by a 15-year-old girl without proof of authority or family connection, and the other lacked a complete address. Mere dispatch of the notice was therefore insufficient, and the requirement of duly served statutory notice was not satisfied.

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Issues: Whether the complainant proved valid service of the statutory demand notice so as to satisfy the requirements of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

Analysis: Service of notice under clause (b) of the proviso to Section 138 is an essential precondition to the cause of action under the provision. The presumption under Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 arises only when the notice is properly addressed, prepaid and posted by registered post. Section 114 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 permits a general presumption of delivery in the ordinary course, but that presumption remains rebuttable and depends on the facts proved. On the facts found, one acknowledgment was signed by a girl of 15 years without proof that she was a family member of the accused, and the other acknowledgment did not bear a sufficiently complete address to sustain the presumption of due service. Mere dispatch of the notice was therefore insufficient to establish receipt.

Conclusion: The statutory notice was not proved to have been duly served, and the requirement under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 was not satisfied.

Final Conclusion: The acquittal was sustained because the foundational requirement of receipt of statutory notice was not established, and the dishonour complaints could not survive for want of compliance with the mandatory precondition to prosecution.

Ratio Decidendi: In a prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the presumption of service by post applies only when the notice is properly addressed and delivered in the ordinary course, and it can be displaced when the facts do not establish due receipt by the drawer or a person legally capable of accepting service on the drawer's behalf.

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