Question: Thanks for the well explained article on the new scenario under the ordinance on Sec. 138 of NI Act. [Jurisdiction in cheque bouncing cases is changed by new Ordinance, superseding SC judgment]
Can you please explain:
1. I have an account in Delhi which is centralised.
2. I have operations in Bangalore
3. I present the cheque in Bangalore thru my Bangalore Branch office, but the account is maintained in Delhi.
Question is can I file a case in Bangalore. (or unless I have an account in Bangalore on which it was presented, it can not be filed in Bangalore as per the ordinance). Please explain.
Answer: The newly inserted sub-section (2) in Section 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, (inserted by the Ordinance of 2015) is reproduced for a ready reference:
“(2) The offence under section 138 shall be inquired into and tried only by a court within whose local jurisdiction,—
(a) 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
(b) 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.
Explanation.—For the purposes of clause (a), where a cheque is delivered for collection at any branch of the bank of the payee or holder in due course, then, the cheque shall be deemed to have been delivered to the branch of the bank in which the payee or holder in due course, as the case may be, maintains the account.”
The Explanation in the above sub-section makes it quite clear that where a cheque is delivered for collection at any (other) branch of the bank of the payee, then the cheque shall be deemed to have been delivered to the branch of the bank in which the payee, as the case may be, maintains the account.
Thus, in the facts mentioned by you, since your bank account is maintained in Delhi and the cheque is presented in a branch of the same bank in Bangalore, in view of the above Explanation, the said cheque shall be deemed to have been presented in Delhi.
Therefore, the jurisdiction in such a case will be in the Delhi court within the territorial jurisdiction of which the bank branch is situated where you maintain the account.
