Power of attorney filing complaint for cheque bounce under Section 138 of NI Act

Tilak Marg Forum for Legal Questions Forums Criminal Law Power of attorney filing complaint for cheque bounce under Section 138 of NI Act

Viewing 1 reply thread
  • Author
    Posts
    • #2200
      Anonymous
      Guest

      If the payee of a cheque which has bounced gives power of attorney to another person to file the case under section 138 of NI Act then can such other person, who is now power of attorney holder of payee, file the case in court? Can he also given his affidavit statement in court as complainant?

    • #2232

      In the case of A.C. Narayanan v. State of Maharashtra, (2014) 11 SCC 790 : AIR 2014 SC 630 : 2014 Cri LJ 576, a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court has held as under:

      • The power-of-attorney holder may be allowed to file the complaint, appear and depose and verify on oath before the court in order to prove the contents of the complaint for the purpose of issue of process for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the NI Act.
      • However, when the power-of-attorney holder of the complainant has not witnessed or does not have a personal knowledge about the transactions, then he cannot be examined as a witness in the case.
      • However, where the attorney holder of the complainant is in charge of the business of the complainant payee and the attorney holder alone is personally aware of the transactions, there is no reason why the attorney holder cannot depose as a witness.
      • Nevertheless, an explicit assertion as to the knowledge of the power-of-attorney holder about the transaction in question must be specified in the complaint.
      • However, it is clarified that the power-of-attorney holder cannot file a complaint in his own name as if he was the complainant. In other words, he can only initiate criminal proceedings on behalf of the principal.
      • Section 200 Cr.P.C. does not create any embargo that the power-of-attorney holder or legal representative(s) cannot be a complainant. 

      I hope your query is sufficiently answered by the observations of the Supreme Court in the above case.

           


      Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.

Viewing 1 reply thread
  • The forum ‘Criminal Law’ is closed to new Questions and replies.

You may also like to read these topics:

Dishonor of cheque for which the liability is cleared by other payment mode
Cheque bounce case under 138 NI act - Interim Relief of 20%
The drawer has given stop payment and also is denying the signature on the check
What are the stages of trial of a case U/s 138 of NI Act?