IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No.55405-M of 2006 Date of decision: 7 th April, 2010 Vikas Goyal and another … Petitioners Versus M/s India Dyes and Chemicals and others … Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Roopak Bansal, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Amit Rawal, Advocate for the respondents. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present petition has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking quashing of complaint No.12 dated 26.10.2002 (Annexure P-1) under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. Counsel for the parties are in agreement that the Hon’ble Apex Court in ‘C.C. Alavi Haji v. Palapetty Muhammed and another’ (2007) 6 Supreme Court Cases 555, has held that in case the amount of cheque is paid by the accused at the time of appearance or before, the plea cannot be raised that proper statutory notice was not served upon the accused. In the present case, the amount of cheque, i.e. Rs.50,000/- was sent by way of demand draft before institution of the complaint. Criminal Misc. No.55405-M of 2006 The plea of the respondent that the amount was paid after the mandatory period of 15 days, prescribed in the notice, was over is no longer tenable in view of observations made in C.C. Alavi Haji’s case (supra). Be that as it may, since the amount of cheque has been paid to the complainant before institution of the complaint and the demand draft was encashed, proceedings arising out of impugned complaint have become futile. Hence, the present petition is allowed and the complaint, along with all subsequent proceedings, is hereby quashed. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE April 7, 2010 rps 2