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Sree Mahesh Stationaries & Another v. Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd.

Transfer Petition (Criminal) · Neutral citation not assigned (Transfer Petition (Criminal) No. 403 of 2013)Decided 5 Aug 2014
Transfer Petition (Criminal) No. 403 of 2013
Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

Indiabulls filed a criminal complaint in Gurgaon over a cheque allegedly issued towards repayment of a ₹15 lakh business loan. The cheque was drawn on a Bangalore bank, but the lender presented it through a Gurgaon bank and sent the payment notice from Gurgaon.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the borrowers' request to transfer the complaint to Bangalore. Applying the jurisdiction rule stated in the 2014 Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod judgment, it held that presenting the cheque through the lender's chosen collecting bank or issuing a demand notice from Gurgaon did not give Gurgaon courts jurisdiction. It transferred the complaint to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Bangalore, who could hear it or assign it to another competent court. The criminal complaint remained to be tried; the transfer did not decide repayment liability or guilt.

Lesson Learnt

The court with power to hear a complaint must be identified separately from the merits of the alleged offence. This judgment records the venue rule applied in August 2014 and should not be used on its own to choose a filing venue today.

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

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