TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2008 (1) TMI 969
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....onoured when presented by the banker with the remarks of the drawee bank - "Payment stopped by drawer". 2. In the aforesaid suit a leave to defend application was filed by the defendant in which an objection was taken that the Delhi Court will have no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit. In paragraph 18 of the plaint, it was stated that the cause of action in the present suit partly arose at New Delhi as the cheque issued by the defendant was presented for clearance by the appellant No. 1 through its bankers at New Delhi and the same was dishonoured at New Delhi. It was also stated that the appellant No. 1 has its administrative office at New Delhi and accordingly, maintains a bank account at New Delhi through which the said cheque was presented for clearance. On the basis of the aforesaid averments, the appellants/plaintiffs sought to invoke the territorial jurisdiction of this Court which was opposed by the defendant in the aforesaid application seeking for leave to defend. In view of the aforesaid position, it became imperative on the learned Single Judge to decide the aforesaid issue as a preliminary issue in the suit. 3. While discharging the aforesaid respons....
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....aid Delhi address of the appellant No. 2 is that of the father of the appellant No. 2. 6. Counsel appearing for the appellant has however contended before us that the cheque was presented by the appellant at New Delhi and it was dishonoured at New Delhi and consequently the cause of action has partly arisen in New Delhi and, Therefore, the suit should have been held to be maintainable. 7. In support of the said contention the counsel appearing for the appellant has specifically drawn our attention to the decision of the Supreme Court in I.T. Commr. v. Ogale Glass Works Ltd. [1954]25ITR259(SC) and Gouri Shankar v. Ram Banka AIR1963Pat398 . In fact the Patna decision referred to by the counsel appearing for the appellant is relied upon and based on the decision of the Supreme Court in the decision of Ogale Glass Works Ltd. (supra). 8. In the aforesaid background facts the issue that arise for our consideration is whether or not the cause of action has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this Court so as to enable the appellant to file the aforesaid suit in this Court. In Ogale Glass Works Ltd. (supra) the question which came for consideration was the liability to p....
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....se the cheques were drawn at Giridih by the respondent on a Bombay Bank and they were encased by the appellant through the Giridih branch of United Commercial Bank who got the cheques encased from the Bombay Bank. A suit had been filed in respect of the cheques at the Bombay Civil Court. One of the issues which arose before the Patna High Court was whether the Court at Bombay had any jurisdiction in the matter and as to whether the decree passed by the Bombay Court was without jurisdiction. It was observed that insofar as the cash payments were concerned, the cause of action wholly arose at Giridih. But, the three cheques which were in question, though issued at Giridih, were drawn on a Bombay Bank. After placing reliance on the Supreme Court decision in the case of Oagale Glass Works (supra), the learned Judge observed that a payment by a negotiable instrument is a conditional payment in the sense that such payment is subject to a condition subsequent that if the negotiable instrument is dishonoured on presentation the creditor may consider it as waste paper and resort to his original demand. It was also held in the said decision that a cheque, unless dishonoured is payment, subje....
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....eby where the person issuing the cheque has an account. "The" is the word used before nouns, with a specifying of particularising effect as opposed to the indefinite or generalising force of "a" or "an". It determines what particular thing is meant; that is, what particular thing we are to assume to be meant. "The" is always mentioned to denote particular thing or a person. "The" would, Therefore, refer implicitly to a specified bank and not any bank. "The bank" referred to in Clause (a) to the proviso to Section 138 of the Act would mean the drawee-bank on which the cheque is drawn and not all banks where the cheque is presented for collection including the bank of the payee, in whose favor the cheque is issued. 10. It, however, does not mean that the cheque is always to be presented to the drawer's bank on which the cheque is issued. The payee of the cheque has the option to present the cheque in any bank including the collecting bank where he has his account but to attract the criminal liability of the drawer of the cheque such collecting bank is obliged to present the cheque in the drawee or payee bank on which the cheque is drawn within the period of six months from the....