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Cheque Dishonour, Check Dishonor, Cheque Bounce, Legal Notice, 138 N. I. Act Complaint, Money Recovery Suit, Order 37 CPC Case, Credit Card

Cheque Dishonour

Legal Notice for Cheque Dishonour, Check dishonor
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138 N. I. Act Complaint and Money Recovery Suit
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Cheque Dishonour Case Law



Important Case laws on Cheque Dishonour (Check Dishonor)



K. Bhaskaran, Appellant V. Sankaran Vaidhyan Balan And Another, Respondents. 1999-(105)-CRLJ -4606 –SC

     A notice refused to be accepted by the addressee can be presumed to have been served on him - Section 138 of the Act does not require that the notice should be given only by "post" - Nonetheless the principle incorporated in s. 27 can profitably be imported in a case where the sender has despatched the notice by post with the correct address written on it - When a notice is returned by the sendee as unclaimed such date would be the commencing date in reckoning the period of 15 days contemplated in cl. (c) to the proviso of s. 138 of the Act.

     Para No. 17. The more important point to be decided in this case is whether the cause of action has arisen at all as the notice sent by the complainant to the accused was returned as "unclaimed". The conditions pertaining to the notice to be given to the drawer, have been formulated and incorporated in clauses (b) to (c) of the proviso to Section 138 of the Act. The said clauses are extracted below :
            "(b) the payee or the holder in due course of the cheque, as the case may be, makes a demand for the payment of the said amount of money by giving a notice in writing, to the drawer of the cheque, within fifteen days of the receipt of information by him from the bank regarding the return of the cheque as unpaid; and
            (c) the drawer of such cheque fails, to make the payment of the said amount of money to the payee 'or as the' case may be, to the holder in due course of the cheque within fifteen days of the receipt of the said notice."

     Para No. 18. On the part. of the payee he has to make a demand by "giving a notice" in writing. If that was the only requirement to complete the offence on the failure of the drawer to pay the cheque amount within 15 days from the date of such "giving", the travails of the prosecution would have been very much lessened. But the legislature says that failure on the part of the drawer to pay the amount should be within 15 days "of the receipt" of the said notice. It is, therefore, clear that "giving notice" in the context is not the same as receipt of notice. Giving is a process of which receipt is the accomplishment. It is for the payee to perform the former process by sending the notice to the drawer at the correct address.

     Para No. 19. In Black's Law Dictionary "giving of notice" is distinguished from receiving of the notice" (vide p. 621) : "A person notifies or gives notice to another by taking such steps as may be reasonably required to inform the other in the ordinary course, whether or not such other actually comes to know of it." A person "receives" a notice when it is duly delivered to him or at the place of his business.

     Para No. 20. If a strict interpretation is given that the drawer should have actually received the notice for the period of 15 days to start running no matter that the payee sent the notice on the correct address, a trickster cheque drawer would get the premium to avoid receiving the notice by different strategies and he could escape from the legal consequences of Section 138 of the Act. It must be borne in mind that the court should not adopt an interpretation which helps a dishonest evader, and clips an honest payee as that would defeat the very legislative measure.

     Para No. 21. In Maxwell's Interpretation of Statutes, the learned author has emphasised that "provisions relating, to giving of notice often receive liberal interpretation" (vide p. 99 of the 12th Edn.). The context envisaged in Section 138 of the Act invites a liberal interpretation for the person who has the statutory obligation to give notice because he is presumed to be the loser in the transaction and it is for his interest the very provision is made by the legislature. The words in clause (b) of the proviso to Section 138 of the Act show that the payee has the statutory obligation to "make a demand" by giving notice. The thrust in the clause is on the need to "make a demand". It is only the mode for making such demand which the legislature has prescribed. A payee can send the notice for doing his part for giving the notice. Once it is despatched his part is over and the next depends on what the sendee does.

     Para No. 22. It is well settled that a notice refused to be accepted by the addressee can be presumed to have been served on him (vide Harcharan Singh v. Shivrani ((1981) 2 SCC 535) and Jagdish Singh v. Natthu Singh ((1992 1 SCC 647).
     Para No. 23. Here the notice is returned as unclaimed and not as refused. Will there be any significant difference between the two so far as the presumption of service is concerned ? In this connection a reference to Section 27 of the General Clauses Act will be useful. The section reads thus :
            "27. Meaning of service by post.-Where any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post, whether the expression 'serve' or either of a the expressions 'give' or 'send' or any other expression is used, then, unless a different intention appears, the service shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing, preparing and posting by registered post, a letter containing the document, and unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post."

     Para No. 24. No doubt Section 138 of the Act does not require that the notice should be given only by "post". Nonetheless the principle incorporated in Section 27 (quoted above) can profitably be imported in a case where the sender has despatched the notice by post with the correct address written on it. Then it can be deemed to have been served on the sendee unless he proves that it was not really served and that he was not responsible for such non-service. Any other interpretation can lead to a very tenuous position as the drawer of the cheque who is liable to pay the amount would resort to the strategy of subterfuge by successfully avoiding the notice.

     Para No. 25. Thus, when a notice is returned by the sendee as unclaimed such date would be the commencing date in reckoning the period of 15 days contemplated in clause (c) to the proviso of Section 138 of the Act. Of course such reckoning would be without prejudice to the right of the drawer of the cheque to show that he had no knowledge that the notice was brought to his address. In the present case the accused did not even attempt to discharge the burden to rebut the aforesaid presumption.

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