TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (9) TMI 1108
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....le in the Limitation Act, 1963, (for short, 'the Act, 1963') that applied to the suit was not Article 19 as contended by the appellants but the Article 35 of the said Act. We laid down the law that the appropriate Article that applies to a suit instituted on a dishonoured cheque is Article 35 and in that process, we followed an unreported decision in Puthenveettil Malathy & ors. v. Kuttilakandy Balakrishnan (A.S.No.436/02) cited by the learned counsel for the respondent. One of the grounds taken in support of review is that the judgment in Malathy's case had been already recalled by one of us (Justice A.Hariprasad) before the judgment under review was passed and therefore it is an error apparent on the face of the record. The s....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ions cited, we find that the said contention is not fully correct and the decisions have no bearing on the facts of this case. They were rendered in a different context dehors the provisions of the Act, 1963 and the NI Act, 1881 which were not relevant for the decision of the said cases. 5. It is next contended that under no circumstance, the present suit could have been laid on the dishonoured cheques since they were not presented to the Banker within the reasonable time stipulated in Section 84 of the NI Act which is essential for maintaining a suit on a dishonored cheque. In this respect, Ramakannan v. Chettiar & Co. (2007(1) LW(Cri) 527), M/s.Cement Agencies v. V.Vijaya Babu (1997(4) Crimes 273) and K.Rajagopal & anr. v. M.Thiagarajan ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....damaged thereby.--(1) Where a cheque is not presented for payment within a reasonable time of the issue, and the drawer or person on whose account it is drawn had the right, at the time when presentment ought to have been made, as between himself and the banker, to have the cheque paid and suffers actual damage through the delay, he is discharged to the extent of such damage, that is to say, to the extent to which such drawer or person is a creditor of the banker to a larger amount than he would have been if such cheque had been paid. (2) In determining what is a reasonable time, regard shall be had to the nature of the instrument, the usage of trade and of bankers, and the facts of the particular case." 8. But we do not think that the p....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....1 (SC)]. It is therefore imperative that the reasonable period stipulated in Sections 84(1) and (2) of the NI Act shall be read harmoniously with the time prescribed in proviso (a) to Section 138. If so read, what determines the time of commencement of period of presentation is the date of the cheque and not the date of delivery of the cheque. 9. The legislature cannot be understood to have intended to give effect to the date of issue of cheque in all cases invariably and discard the date of cheque as irrelevant. If the date of delivery of cheque is to determine the period of presentation, distinct from or in preference to the date of the cheque as explained above, it is sure to bring about anomalous situation and defeat the underlying obj....