THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL PETITION No.6304 of 2011 ORDER: This criminal petition is filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. by the petitioner – Accused seeking to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.518 of 2010 on the file of the II Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Tanuku, West Godavari District, arising out of a private complaint registered for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. 2. Heard both sides. 3. The case of the complainant is that the petitioner obtained trade loan of Rs.5,00,000/- from their company repayable in 36 monthly instalments and issued 25 cheques with different dates. When the complainant presented the said cheques, they were dishonored with the reason ‘funds insufficient’. Hence, the complaint under Section 138 of the NI Act. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel for the petitioner- accused submitted that the petitioner gave the said cheques only as security to the loan amount but not for discharging the legally enforceable debt. When the cheques were not issued for discharging of legally enforceable debt the offence is not constituted against the petitioner under Sections 138 and 142 of the N.I. Act. 5. This Court is of the view that these are all the matters to be decided by the trial Court at the time of trial only and the learned counsel for the petitioner is at liberty to raise all the points before the trial Court and this Court is not inclined to stay the proceedings at this stage. 6. In any event, the offence is under Section 138 of the NI Act, where the question of identity of the accused does not arise, the presence of the petitioner before the trial Court is dispensed with except the dates on which the learned Magistrate insists for her appearance and she shall be properly represented through her counsel. 7. With the above observation, the Criminal Petition is disposed of. The miscellaneous petitions, if any, filed along with the criminal petition shall stand closed. ________________ RAJA ELANGO, J. 4th August 2011, Rns.