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Birendra Prasad Sah v. The State of Bihar & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 649Decided 8 May 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 000868 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Hemant Gupta

Background

The appellant's two cheques, totalling about Rs. 49 lakhs, were dishonoured in late 2015. After sending a legal notice and encountering difficulty confirming it had been received by the drawer, he sent a second notice and eventually filed a criminal complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The trial court (CJM, Begusarai) took cognizance after condoning the delay in filing, but the Patna High Court quashed the proceedings, holding the complaint had not been filed within the statutory 30-day period.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the complaint should be treated as founded on the first legal notice (within 30 days of the dishonour memo), and that the appellant had shown sufficient cause for the delay in filing the complaint: the High Court had wrongly relied on a presumption of service without properly weighing the appellant's explanation of his inability to get proof the notice reached the drawer. Finding the High Court's quashing order unsustainable, the Supreme Court set it aside and restored the Section 138 complaint to the trial court, while clarifying it had not expressed any view on the merits of the underlying dispute, which remains to be decided at trial.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will look at the real, sufficient-cause reasons for delay in filing a cheque-bounce complaint rather than mechanically applying the 30-day limit, especially where a complainant genuinely struggled to get proof that a notice was delivered.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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