FIL INDUSTRIES LIMITED Vs. IMTIYAZ AHMED BHAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We have heard Learned Counsel for the parties. Leave granted.

(2.) The facts very briefly are that the Respondent delivered a cheque dated 23 December, 2010 for an amount of Rs. 29,69,746 (Rupees Twenty Nine lakhs sixty nine thousand seven hundred forty six only) on Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited, Branch Imam Saheb, Shopian, to the Appellant towards some business dealings and the Appellant deposited the same in UCO Bank, Sopore. When the cheque amount was not encashed and collected in the account of the Appellant in UCO Bank Sopore, the Appellant filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sopore. The Respondent sought dismissal of the complaint on the ground that the Chief Judicial Magistrate had no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the complaint. By order dated 29 November, 2011, the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sopore, however, held that he had the jurisdiction to entertain the complaint. Aggrieved, the Appellant filed Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 431 of 2011 under Section 561A of the Jammu and Kashmir Code of Criminal Procedure and by the impugned order dated 2 June, 2012, the High Court quashed the complaint saying that the court at Sopore had no jurisdiction to receive and entertain the complaint.

(3.) We have beard Learned Counsel for the parties and we find that in K. Bhaskaran v. Sankaran Vaidhyan Balan, 1999 7 SCC 510, this Court had the occasion to consider as to which court would have the jurisdiction to entertain the complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act and in paras 14, 15 and 16 of the judgment in the aforesaid case held as under: