https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=784504 Under the proviso to s. 142(b) of the NI Act, a court may take cognizance of a complaint under s. 138 only after the complainant establishes "sufficient cause" for filing beyond limitation and the court records satisfaction by condoning the delay; such condonation must precede cognizance. Treating condonation and cognizance as interchangeable defeats the statutory mandate, and a belated matter does not properly enter the court's file until delay is condoned, analogous to the CPC scheme for delayed appeals. As the complaint was filed two days late and cognizance was taken without prior condonation, the Magistrate acted without jurisdiction; the HC order declining to quash was set aside and the appeal was allowed. en-us Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:03:02 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=784504 Under the proviso to s. 142(b) of the NI Act, a court may take cognizance of a complaint under s. 138 only after the complainant establishes "sufficient cause" for filing beyond limitation and the court records satisfaction by condoning the delay; such condonation must precede cognizance. Treating condonation and cognizance as interchangeable defeats the statutory mandate, and a belated matter does not properly enter the court's file until delay is condoned, analogous to the CPC scheme for delayed appeals. As the complaint was filed two days late and cognizance was taken without prior condonation, the Magistrate acted without jurisdiction; the HC order declining to quash was set aside and the appeal was allowed. Case-Laws Indian Laws Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=784504