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Oriental Bank of Commerce vs Prabodh Kumar Tewari

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 832Decided 16 Aug 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 1260 of 2022
Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud · A.S. Bopanna

Background

Oriental Bank of Commerce had filed a criminal complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act after a cheque worth over Rs. 5.57 crores, given towards dues of a consortium of companies, bounced for insufficient funds. The respondent, a director and signatory of the companies, admitted signing the cheque but claimed he had handed over only a signed blank cheque, and got the Delhi High Court to allow him to engage a private hand-writing expert to examine whether the other details in the cheque were filled in by him.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that under Section 139 of the NI Act, once a person signs a cheque and hands it over, the law presumes it was issued for a debt or liability, and this presumption can only be rebutted by evidence at trial showing otherwise, not by proving who physically filled in the cheque's details. Relying on its own precedents (including Bir Singh v. Mukesh Kumar and Rangappa v. Sri Mohan), the Court held that even a signed blank cheque voluntarily handed over attracts this presumption, so a hand-writing expert's opinion on who filled in the amount and date would be irrelevant to the real question, whether the cheque was issued for a debt. The High Court's order permitting the expert examination was therefore set aside, though the respondent remains free to raise other genuine defences at trial.

Lesson Learnt

If you sign a cheque and hand it over, you are legally presumed liable for it under Section 138 of the NI Act regardless of who filled in the amount or date: the only way out is to prove at trial, through real evidence, that the cheque was not issued to discharge any debt or liability.

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

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