YOGENDRA PRATAP SINGH Vs. SAVITRI PANDEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the order of 03.04.2012, a two-Judge Bench of this Court granted leave in SLP (Crl.) No.5761 of 2010. The Court formulated the following two questions for consideration:

(2.) The two-Judge Bench in that order noticed Section 138 and Section 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ("NI Act") and also referred to the two decisions of this Court, namely, (1) Narsingh Das Tapadia v. Goverdhan Das Partani and Anr., 2000 7 SCC 183] and (2) Sarav Investment & Financial Consultancy Private Limited and Anr. v. Llyods Register of Shipping Indian Office Staff Provident Fund and Anr., 2007 14 SCC 753]. The Bench also noticed the judgments of High Courts of Calcutta, Orissa, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Allahabad, Gauhati, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madras, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka and observed that judicial opinion on the first question was split among the High Courts in the country and so also the two decisions of this Court in Narsingh Das Tapadia1 and Sarav Investment & Financial Consultancy2. Even amongst the two High Courts, namely, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka, the Bench noticed that the decisions on the first question were not uniform. It was felt by the two-Judge Bench that the conflict in the judicial pronouncements needed to be resolved authoritatively and, accordingly, referred the above two questions for consideration by a three- Judge Bench of this Court.

(3.) This is how the matter has been placed before us.