Jharkhand High Court: Anil Kumar Choudhary, J. dismissed an interlocutory application praying for grant of special leave under Section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure against a judgment passed by Judicial Magistrate, Jamshedpur on the grounds of probable violation of the settled principle of law.
The appellant-complainant granted a friendly loan of Rs 35,000 to accused-respondent 2 which was not paid back and the same was demanded back. The accused-respondent 2 issued a cheque in pursuance of the same demand, however, it was dishonored due to lack of funds in the bank account. Thereafter, a notice was issued which was never acknowledged by the accused-respondent 2 and consequently a complaint under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 was filed. The trial court, however, acquitted the accused-respondent 2 by concluding the complaint to be premature.
Issue: whether there exists a prescribed period for filing a complaint to retrieve loan amount or can the same be done at any time after the issuance of notice.
The appellant-complainant was represented by Mukesh Kumar Dubey who submitted that the trial court was mechanical in it’s approach and ignored the fact and law. Further, it was contested that the judgment is perverse and hence, the special leave should be granted. The defense was represented by the Additional Public Prosecutor who submitted that a settled principle of law should not be hampered by such appeals. It was contended that in case of notice is not received by the payee, presumption of notice would be on the 30th day from the date of issuance and only after waiting for the statutory period of 15 days the amount would be payable. Therefore, at the earliest, the complaint can be filed after 45 days from the issuance of notice. It was contested that since the complaint was issued only in 22 days therefore, special leave should not be granted.
The Court after considering all evidences presented concluded that the trial court acted in consonance with the settled principle of law which required a minimum of 45 days from the issue of notice of demand in case there exists no evidence to suggest receipt of notice by the concerned parties. Further, relying on Subodh S. Salaskar v. Jayprakash M. Shah, (2008) 13 SCC 689, the court affirmed the mandated requirement of 30 days from the date of issuance of notice and held that the complaint is premature. Therefore, special leave was not to be granted. [Shyam Sundar Singh v. State of Jharkhand, 2019 SCC OnLine Jhar 768, decided on 20-06-2019]
With in 30 days from the date of receipt Notice by the Accused , Complaint can be filed.
Is not Correct??
Not the Settled Law???