Krishna Janardhan Bhat vs Dattatraya G. Hegde

The cheque bearing No. 044483 was shown to have been a self drawn one for a sum of Rs. 1500/-.

3. Disputes and differences having arisen between the appellant and the said R.G. Bhat in connection with running of the said business, the power of attorney granted in his favour was cancelled by the appellant. Disputes and differences between the parties were referred to the Panchayat. In the meeting of the Panchayat held on 02.10.1996, complainant/respondent who is the brother-in-law of the said R.G. Bhat was admittedly present. He participated therein. The result of the said meeting of the Panchayat is not known but it is not in dispute that the appellant herein issued a public notice through his advocate in a local newspaper on 3.10.1996 to the following effect:

(2) If so, whether the said cheque came to be dishonoured as funds insufficient after its presentation and despite of issuance of notice, the accused did not pay the due amount within stipulated time without any cause, thereby Negotiable Instruments Act? The learned Trial Judge noticed the contents of the claim petition as also the evidence of PW-1. It also noticed the suggestions given to the said PW-1 by the appellant herein. Upon taking into consideration the same as also the statement of the appellant under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it posed a question as to whether there was no debt payable by the accused to the complainant and if so, whether the complainant colluding with R.G. Bhat had created the cheque with an intention to cause loss to the appellant. It, however, without making any further discussion, answered the said question directly on the material brought on record referring to a decision of the Karnataka High Court in S.R. Muralidar v. Ashok G.Y. [ILR 2001 Karnataka 4127] in extenso and opining that his decision in the case is similar to that of the Karnataka High Court, stating:

16. The appellate court took an identical stand. It proceeded on the premise that the statement of accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding misuse of blank cheque by the complainant and filling up Rs. 1,50,000/- instead of Rs. 1500/- is contradictory to his own admission in the reply to the notice issued to him.

17. The High Court in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction although accepted the contention of the appellant that the presumption under Section 139 of the Act extends only to the extent that the holder of the cheque received the cheque for the discharge in whole or in part of any debt or other liability and the same only means that cheque was issued for consideration, but does not extend to the extent that the cheque was issued for the discharge of the debt or liability as pleaded by the accused, opined that the complainant had discharged that onus by adducing his own evidence. Observing that the appellant did not step into the witness box, it was opined that although the relationship between the appellant and Shri R.G. Bhat was strained, there was nothing to show that the relationship between the appellant and the complainant became strained despite the fact that a panchayat meeting was held in regard to the said dispute in 1996. The High Court, however, refused to go into the factual aspect of the matter stating that it was exercising a revisional jurisdiction, stating:

26. A statutory presumption has an evidentiary value. The question as to whether the presumption whether stood rebutted or not, must, therefore, be determined keeping in view the other evidences on record. For the said purpose, stepping into the witness box by the appellant is not imperative. In a case of this nature, where the chances of false implication cannot be ruled out, the background fact and the conduct of the parties together with their legal requirements are required to be taken into consideration.

32. We assume that the law laid down therein is correct. The views we have taken are not inconsistent therewith.

33. But, we may at the same time notice the development of law in this area in some jurisdictions.

35. Keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion that the courts below approached the case from a wholly wrong angle, viz., wrong application of the legal principles in the fact situation of the case. In view of the legal position as has been enunciated by this Court in M.S. Narayana Menon (supra) and later cases, we are of the opinion that the High Court should have entertained the revision application.

36. For the reasons aforementioned, the appeal is allowed. The judgments of conviction and sentence passed against the appellant are set aside.