2022 (9) TMI 213

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....cts lie on a narrow compass. On 7 November 2005, a notice was addressed by the respondent to the appellant alleging that the appellant had taken a cash loan of Rs 2.5 lakhs and had furnished a cheque dated 28 October 2005 towards repayment. The notice alleged that the cheque was returned by the bank to the respondent due to insufficiency of funds in the account of the appellant. The notice dated 7 November 2005 was received by the appellant on 8 November 2005. The respondent instituted a complaint against the appellant under Section 138 of the NI Act on 22 November 2005. On 1 February 2011, the trial court acquitted the appellant. The order of acquittal was questioned before the High Court in appeal. By a judgment dated 28 November 2018, th....

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....h is extracted below: "35. Can an offence under Section 138 of the NI Act be said to have been committed when the period provided in clause (c) of the proviso has not expired? Section 2(d) of the Code defines "complaint". According to this definition, complaint means any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate with a view to taking his action against a person who has committed an offence. Commission of an offence is a sine qua non for filing a complaint and for taking cognizance of such offence. A bare reading of the provision contained in clause (c) of the proviso makes it clear that no complaint can be filed for an offence under Section 138 of the NI Act unless the period of 15 days has elapsed. Any complaint filed before t....

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.... NI Act, as explained in the three-Judge Bench decision of this Court, taking of cognizance by the Court was contrary to the law and the complaint was not maintainable before the expiry of the period of fifteen days from the date of its receipt by the appellant. 8. However, on behalf of the respondent, it has been urged that the second issue which was raised before the three-Judge Bench has been dealt with in the following terms: "41... Now, since our answer to Question (i) is in the negative, we observe that the payee or the holder in due course of the cheque may file a fresh complaint within one month from the date of decision in the criminal case and, in that event, delay in filing the complaint will be treated as having been condoned....