2021 (7) TMI 115

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....ned Member and J.M.F.C., Gangavathi for the offence punishable under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (for short, N.I. Act) instituted by the respondent/complainant. 2. For the sake of convenience, the parties in this appeal are referred to as per their status and ranking before the trial Court. 3. Brief facts of the case are that the respondent herein filed a private complaint in P.C.R. No. 99/2018 against accused Nos. 1 and 2 who are the petitioners herein alleging the commission of offence punishable under Section 138 of the N.I. Act. It is stated that the accused Nos. 1 and 2 have availed hand loan of Rs. 12,00,000/- during the second week of August, 2017 promising to repay the same within 15 days. The complainant be....

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....petitioners submitted that the Cheque which is marked at Ex. P-1 before the trial Court is signed only by accused No. 1 and not by accused No. 2. Even according to the complainant in his complaint as well as the legal notice and the sworn statement, it is only accused No. 1 who signed the Cheque. Under such circumstances, accused No. 2 could not have been prosecuted on the ground that account in question was a joint account standing in the names of accused Nos. 1 and 2. He placed reliance on the decision in Aparna A. Shah vs. Sheth Developers (P) Ltd. 2013(8) SCC 71 to contend that it is only the signatory to the Cheque who can be prosecuted and none else. 7. Learned counsel for petitioners fairly submitted that no grounds are made out b....

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....hich the Cheque in question was drawn. Therefore, it is clear that even though the Cheque in question pertains to a joint account of accused Nos. 1 and 2 it was signed only by accused No. 1 and not by accused No. 2. 13. The Hon'ble Apex Court in Aparna A. Shah supra considered the liability as the joint account holder of the offence punishable under Section 138 of the N.I. Act held as under: "28. We also hold that under Section 138 of the N.I. Act, in case of issuance of cheque from joint accounts, a joint account-holder cannot be prosecuted unless the cheque has been signed by each and every person who is a joint account-holder. The said principle is an exception to Section 141 of the N.I. Act which would have no applicatio....