Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 2, 2022 at 19:52 IST
The territorial jurisdiction of the Court in cases brought under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act would be the place where the check is delivered for collection, according to the Gauhati High Court.
Justice Robin Phukan further said that the NI Act does not classify checks as bearer, cross, or account payee checks for purposes of jurisdiction. It states:
“From the word any cheque, used in Section 138 at can be well inferred that it may be an account payer cheque on a bearer cheque, dishonor of which on account of insufficiency of fund or exceed the amount would amount to an offence and would attract the penalty.”
The observation was made when dealing with a revision petition challenging the trial court’s order to dismiss the petitioner’s complaint on the grounds that the court with jurisdiction over the accused’s account has jurisdiction because the petitioner’s cheque is a bearer cheque.
According to the trial court, the jurisdiction of Court falls where the complainant has an account has jurisdiction in cases of cross cheques or account payee cheques, and in cases of bearer checks, the court where the accused has an account will have jurisdiction.
In this case, the defendant issued a cheque to the petitioner, who had a bank account at the SBC Hojai Branch, to discharge a debt. The same was relied as dishonoured with an endorsement of the closed account.
As a result, the matter was remanded back to the lower court with the direction to proceed with it in accordance with law.