Published on: November 03, 2023 at 01:28 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Bridgestone India V. Inderpal Singh (2016)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Section 142-A(1) of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 allows the Criminal Complaint for Cheque bounces under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 shall be inquired into and tried only by a Court of First Class Magistrate within whose local jurisdiction,—
- if the cheque is delivered for collection through an account, the branch of the bank where the payee or holder in due course, as the case may be, maintains the account, is situated; or
- if the cheque is presented for payment by the payee or holder in due course, otherwise through an account, the branch of the drawee bank where the drawer maintains the account, is situated.
15. We are in complete agreement with the contention advanced at the hands of the learned counsel for the appellant. We are satisfied, that Section 142(2)(a), amended through the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Second Ordinance, 2015, vests jurisdiction for initiating proceedings for the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, inter alia, in the territorial jurisdiction of the court, where the cheque is delivered for collection (through an account of the branch of the bank where the payee or holder in due course maintains an account). We are also satisfied, based on Section 142-A(1) to the effect, that the judgment rendered by this Court in Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod case, would not stand in the way of the appellant, insofar as the territorial jurisdiction for initiating proceedings emerging from the dishonour of the cheque in the present case arises.
Abhi Mishra Inc.©