NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS ACT – ONE-PAGE REVISION SHEET
(Judiciary Mains Focus)
🔴 SECTION 138 – CHEQUE DISHONOUR
Essential Ingredients
(Kusum Ingots v. Pennar Peterson, 2000)
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Cheque drawn on account maintained by accused
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Issued for legally enforceable debt/liability
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Presented within validity period
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Dishonoured (insufficient funds / equivalent reasons)
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Demand notice within 30 days
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Failure to pay within 15 days of notice receipt
➡️ All ingredients mandatory
🟠 DISHONOUR – COVERED REASONS
(Laxmi Dyechem v. State of Gujarat, 2012)
✔️ Insufficient funds
✔️ Account closed
✔️ Stop payment
✔️ Signature mismatch
🔵 PRESUMPTIONS (CORE SCORING AREA)
Section 118(a)
Presumption of consideration
Section 139
Cheque presumed to be for discharge of debt
📌 Scope: Includes existence of debt
(Rangappa v. Mohan, 2010)
📌 Rebuttal:
Preponderance of probability
(Basalingappa v. Mudibasappa, 2019)
🟣 SECURITY CHEQUE
✔️ Covered if liability exists on date of presentation
(Sampelly Satyanarayana Rao, 2016)
❌ Not covered if no enforceable liability
🟤 STATUTORY NOTICE
✔️ Unclaimed / refused = deemed service
(C.C. Alavi Haji, 2007)
✔️ Actual service not mandatory if avoidance proved
🟥 LIMITATION & MULTIPLE DISHONOUR
✔️ Fresh cause of action on every dishonour
(MSR Leathers v. S. Palaniappan, 2013)
🟧 SECTION 141 – COMPANY OFFENCES
Mandatory Conditions
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Company must be arraigned
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Specific averment: “in charge of & responsible”
📌 Key cases:
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SMS Pharmaceuticals (2005)
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Aneeta Hada (2012)
➡️ MD / Joint MD → Deemed liable
🟩 TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION
✔️ Place of payee’s bank
(NI Amendment Act, 2015)
✔️ Overruled Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod
🟦 PROCEDURAL POWERS
Section 143A – Interim Compensation
✔️ Up to 20%
(G.J. Raja, 2019)
Section 148 – Appellate Deposit
✔️ Minimum 20%
(Surinder Singh Deswal, 2019)
🟨 IBC & NI ACT
✔️ Proceedings stayed against company
✔️ Can continue against directors
(P. Mohanraj v. Shah Brothers, 2021)
🟪 OTHER HIGH-YIELD POINTS
✔️ Time-barred debt → Covered
(A.V. Murthy, 2002)
✔️ Death of accused → Proceedings abate
✔️ Power of Attorney complaint → Permissible
(A.C. Narayanan, 2014)
✔️ Nature of offence → Quasi-criminal
✔️ Compounding → Section 147
(Damodar S. Prabhu, 2010)
🧠 EXAM GOLDEN RULE
Section + Principle + 1 Supreme Court case + Conclusion = Full mark