Madras High Court : Cheque bounce case complainants need not wait 15 days of statutory Notice Period
MADURAI, September 17, 2016
கடன் பெற்றவர் கொடுத்த செக் பணம் இல்லை என்று வங்கி திருப்பி அனுப்பிய பின், கடன் பெற்றவர்க்கு பணத்தை கேட்டு சட்டப்படி Notice அணுப்பவேண்டும், அந்த நோட்டீஸ்யை கடன் பெற்றவர் பெற்ற 15 நாட்களுக்கும் பிறகும்,பணம் தரவில்லை என்றால் தான் கடன் பெற்றவர் மீது செக் மோசடி குற்ற வழக்கு தொடர முடியும்.
ஆனால் அந்த 15 நாட்களுக்கு உள்ளகாகவே கடன் பெற்றவர் ஏதாவது காரணத்தால் பணம் தரமுடியாது என பதில் Noticeஸ்யை கடன் பெற்றவர், கடன் கொடுத்தவருக்கு அனுப்பிவிட்டால், கடன் கொடுத்தவர் 15 நாட்களுக்கு காத்து இருக்கவேண்டாம், உடனடியா கடன் பெற்றவர் மீது செக் மோசடி குற்ற வழக்கு தொடர முடியும் என்ற High Court தீர்ப்பு அளித்து உள்ளது.
Complainants in cheque bounce cases need not wait for completion of statutory period of 15 days from the date of receipt of their legal notice by the accused, before filing a case under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 if the borrower at the outset denies having received any loan, the Madras High Court Bench here has held.
Refusing to quash a cheque bounce case, Justice S. Vimala said that Section 138 (c) of the Act provides a breather of 15 days before prosecution to enable borrowers to discharge their liability if they had issued a cheque mistakenly without sufficient funds in their accounts or to correct their mistake even if they had issued the cheque deliberately.
However, if the drawer of the cheque sends a written reply denying his liability by claiming that he had not taken any loan from the lender besides questioning the latter’s financial ability to have parted with the amount claimed to have been given on loan, then the payee could lodge a complaint immediately without waiting for completion of 15 days, the judge said.
She pointed out that in the present case, the petitioner had been accused of borrowing Rs.6 lakh for his sister’s marriage on April 15, 2012 after promising to repay the money within three months. He did not keep up his promise and a cheque drawn by him on September 22, 2012 got returned three days later with the endorsement ‘insufficient funds.’
Thereafter, the lender had issued a notice to the petitioner on September 29, 2012 demanding return of money and filed a cheque bounce case before a Judicial Magistrate court in Dindigul on October 11, 2012 since the petitioner had sent a reply denying to have obtained a loan of Rs.6 lakh as claimed in the demand notice.
Seeking to quash the case pending against him before the Magistrate, the petitioner claimed that it had been filed before the completion of the statutory period 15 days from the day when he received the demand notice. He claimed the Magistrate should not have entertained the complaint at all at the first place.
The petitioner’s counsel contended that a reply sent by his client denying liability could not be used as a reason to file the case before the statutory period of 15 days since such denial could have been made to gain time to make payment or to drag on the proceedings or even to just tease the complainant.
Rejecting his contentions, Ms. Justice Vimala said that in a similar case earlier, the High Court had held that “once the drawer denies the payment, in spite of the statutory notice, the payee need not wait for completion of 15 days to lapse from the date of receipt of the notice or for the mercy of change of mind of the drawer to make payment.”
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