Delhi District Court
Navya Singh vs Exerevnisi Private Limted on 14 May, 2025
IN THE COURT OF SH. ANURAG CHHABRA,
JMFC (NI ACT)-03, PATIALA HOUSE COURT,
NEW DELHI DISTRICT, NEW DELHI
In the matter of: CC No.: 14262/2023
CNR NO.: DLND020271772023
Navya Singh
Registered address:-
Chamber no.475, Patiala House Court
New Delhi-110001
......Complainant
versus
(1) Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd.
through its directors
(2) Sh. Bittu Kumar
Director of accused no.1 company
S/o Sh. Abadhesh Kumar Singh
R/o Village Morsand, Mursand,
Sitamarhi, Bihar-843328
(3) Sh. Avdesh Kumar Singh (not summoned vide order dated
20.11.2023)
Director of accused no.1 company
........Accused
JUDGEMENT
Date of Institution of Complaint : 14.09.2023 Police Station : Tilak Marg Offence Complained of : u/s. 138 of NI Act Plea of Accused : Not Guilty Date of Final Arguments Heard : 13.05.2025 Decision Qua Accused : Convicted Date of Decision : 14.05.2025 CC No. 14262/2023 Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 1 of 8 BRIEF STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR DECISION
1. Vide this judgement, I shall decide the present complaint filed u/s. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as the NI Act) by the complainant against the accused on account of dishonour of the following cheques allegedly issued by the accused in favour of the complainant (hereinafter referred to as the cheques in question):
Cheque No. Date of Cheque Amount Drawn On
000982 01.08.2023 Rs.30,000/- ICICI Bank
000983 01.08.2023 Rs.40,000/- ICICI Bank
000984 01.08.2023 Rs.50,000/- ICICI Bank
000985 01.08.2023 Rs.60,000/- ICICI Bank
CASE OF THE COMPLAINANT
2. Brief facts of the case as per the complaint are that complainant is an advocate by profession and accused nos.2 & 3 are the directors of accused no.1 company duly incorporated under the Company Law. It is further stated that accused persons approached the complainant for availing the legal services from the complainant and after negotiations, accused persons entered into a Retainership Agreement with the complainant to avail the legal services. It is further stated that as per the retainership agreement, accused had to pay a fixed sum of Rs.35,000/- monthly as the retainership amount by 5 th of every month starting from December, 2021 till March, 2022. It is further stated that after the end of the retainership period, the complainant requested the accused for releasing the full amount of the retainership but CC No. 14262/2023 Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 2 of 8 accused did not pay any heed to her requests. It is further stated that in July, 2022, accused issued 04 post dated cheques in favour of the complainant towards discharge of their legal liability.
3. It is further stated that on presentation, the cheques in question were returned dishonoured with remarks "Funds Insufficient" vide cheque return memos, all dated 02.08.2023. Thereafter, a legal notice was sent to the accused dated 03.08.2023 and since no payment was made within 15 days of the service of legal notice, the present case has been filed.
4. In support of the case of the complainant, complainant has relied on averments made in the complaint, the evidence by way of affidavit filed by the complainant, the presumption of law u/s. 118(a) r/w. 139 of the NI Act and the following documentary evidence:
1. Details of accused persons procured Ex.CW-1/A (colly) from the website
2. Copy of Retainership Agreement Ex.CW-1/B
3. Copy of e-mail and invoice dated Ex.CW-1/C 11.02.2022 raised for legal services for the month of December, 2021 and January, 2022 along with work done
4. Copy of e-mail dated 26.02.2022 for Ex.CW-1/D reminder of payment of dues
5. Copy of e-mail dated 02.04.2022 for Ex.CW-1/E reminder of payment of dues
6. Copy of e-mail dated 30.04.2022 Ex.CW-1/F alongwith invoice dated 29.04.2022
7. Copy of e-mail dated 30.06.2022 Ex.CW-1/G
8. Copy of e-mail dated 12.07.2022 Ex.CW-1/H
9. Original cheques in question Ex.CW-1/I (colly)
10. Original bank return memos Ex.CW-1/J (colly) CC No. 14262/2023 Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 3 of 8
11. Copy of postal receipts and tracking Ex.CW-1/K (colly) records
12. Copy of the screenshot of the legal Ex.CW-1/L (colly) notice sent to accused persons CASE PROCEEDINGS
5. In the present matter notice of accusation was served on the accused nos.1 & 2 on 14.11.2024 and the accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The plea of defence of the accused nos.1 & 2 were also recorded by the court on the same day.
6. During the proceedings of the present case, accused no.2 was granted various opportunities by the court to engage a counsel, however, accused no.2 stated before the court that he did not wish to engage any counsel and he was well aware about the law.
7. An application u/s. 145(2) of the NI Act moved on behalf of the accused was allowed vide order dated 14.11.2024 and the accused was granted an opportunity to cross-examine the complainant.
8. Despite opportunity, accused has not cross-examined the complainant and vide detailed order dated 18.03.2025, right of the accused to cross-examine CW-1 was closed by the court.
9. Statement of accused nos.1 & 2 u/s. 313 r/w. Section 281 CrPC were recorded on 15.04.2025 and all the incriminating evidence was put to the accused nos.1 & 2.
10. Since the accused chose to lead Defence Evidence, matter was fixed for filing of appropriate application u/s. 315 CrPC along with list of witnesses, if required.
11. Despite opportunity, accused has neither filed application u/s 315 Cr.P.C. nor has led defence evidence and vide detailed CC No. 14262/2023 Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 4 of 8 order dated 24.04.2025, right of the accused to lead DE was closed by the court and matter was listed for final arguments.
12. Final arguments were heard by this court on 13.05.2025.
13. I have heard counsel for the parties, perused the record and have gone through the relevant provisions of the law.
LAW UNDER CONSIDERATION
14. At the very outset, it is pertinent to lay down the ingredients of the offence u/s. 138 of NI Act. In Jugesh Sehgal vs. Shamsher Singh Gogi, (2009) 14 SCC 683, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India culled out the following ingredients in order to constitute an offence u/s. 138 of NI Act:
"13. It is manifest that to constitute an offence under Section 138 of the Act, the following ingredients are required to be fulfilled:
(i) a person must have drawn a cheque on an account maintained by him in a bank for payment of a certain amount of money to another person from out of that account;
(ii) the cheque should have been issued for the discharge, in whole or in part, of any debt or other liability;
(iii) that cheque has been presented to the bank within a period of three months from the date on which it is drawn or within the period of its validity whichever is earlier;
(iv) that cheque is returned by the bank unpaid, either because of the amount of money standing to the credit of the account is insufficient to honour the cheque or that it exceeds the amount arranged to be paid from that account by an agreement made with the bank;
(v) the payee or the holder in due course of the cheque makes a demand for the payment of the said amount of money by giving a notice in writing, to the drawer of the cheque, within 30 days of the receipt of information by him from the bank regarding the return of the cheque as unpaid;CC No. 14262/2023
Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 5 of 8
(vi) the drawer of such cheque fails to make payment of the said amount of money to the payee or the holder in due course of the cheque within 15 days of the receipt of the said notice.
(vii) the payee or the holder in due course files a complaint case u/s 138 N.I Act within a period of 30 days from the expiry of aforementioned 15 days.
Being cumulative, it is only when all the aforementioned ingredients are satisfied that the person who had drawn the cheque can be deemed to have committed an offence under Section 138 of the Act."
15. Before moving forward with the contentions of the accused, it is pertinent to note that as per the provisions of section 118(a) and 139 of the NI Act, in every case u/s. 138 of NI Act, there is a presumption of law that the cheque has been issued for consideration and in discharge of legally enforceable debt or liability.
16. It is further pertinent to mention the relevant judgments on the point of presumption of existence of legally enforceable debt or liability. Reliance is placed by this court upon the judgments of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Rangappa v. Sri Mohan, (2010) 11 SCC 441, Kumar Exports vs. Sharma Carpets, (2009) 2 SCC 513, and Bir Singh vs. Mukesh Kumar, (2019) 4 SCC 197, wherein it has been held that the presumption u/s. 139 NI Act is a presumption of law and not presumption of fact. It has further been held that it is not necessary that the cheque must have been filled by the accused himself and the accused may be liable even when the cheque has been filled by the complainant. The essential requirement is that the liability must exist on the date of the presentation of the cheque in question. It has been further held CC No. 14262/2023 Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 6 of 8 that once the signatures on the cheque are admitted then the court is bound to raise presumption u/s. 118 r/w. 139 NI Act regarding existence of legally enforceable debt or liability.
17. Further the other ingredients as noted above must also be established by the complainant.
18. In the facts of the present case, the signatures on the cheques in question has been admitted by the accused. The said cheques were presented by the complainant to its banker within a period of 3 months from the date of issuance of cheque in question. The aforesaid cheques, when presented for encashment was returned unpaid/dishonoured, the complainant issued a legal notice to the accused within 30 days from the receipt of information received by him from the bank that the cheques had been dishonoured and the accused has failed to make the payment within 15 days of the receipt of the aforesaid legal notice. The present case has been filed within a period of 30 days from the receipt of legal demand notice. Accordingly, this court raises presumption u/s. 118(a) r/w. section 139 of NI Act that the cheque in question was issued by the accused to the complainant in discharge of legally enforceable debt or liability and it is now on the accused to raise a probable defence and to prove his case on the basis of preponderance of probabilities.
DEFENCE OF THE ACCUSED
19. The defence of the accused is as follows:-
20. Accused no.2 has stated that cheques in question were given for the services rendered by the complainant to him towards the advance payment for the future work to be agreed to be done by the complainant. He further stated that complainant has misused his cheques in question.
CC No. 14262/2023Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 7 of 8 FINAL ORDER
21. The presumption u/s. 118(a) r/w. section 139 of NI Act was not rebutted by the accused no.2 and no cross-examination of CW- 1 has been conducted by the accused no.2, moreover, no evidence has been led by the accused no.2, therefore, the court is constrained to believe the version of the complainant.
22. In view of the above discussion and in view of the judgments of Hon'ble Courts as stated above, the accused has not been able to raise a probable defence and has not been able to prove his defence on the basis of preponderance of probabilities that there is no legally enforceable debt or liability in favour of the complainant and against him equivalent to the amount of cheque in question as on the date of their drawal or on the date of their presentation. Thus, the accused has not been able to rebut the presumption u/s. 118 r/w. section 139 NI Act. Furthermore, the complainant has been able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt qua the accused in respect of the cheque in question.
23. In view of the aforesaid, accused no.1, namely, (1) Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. and accused no.2, namely, Sh. Bittu Kumar S/o Sh. Abadhesh Kumar Singh are hereby convicted of offence under Section 138 Negotiable Instruments Act.
Announced in Open Court (Anurag Chhabra) on 14.05.2025 JMFC(N.I. Act)-03/NDD/PHC/NDD Note: This judgment contains 8 signed pages and each page has been signed by the undersigned.
(Anurag Chhabra) JMFC(N.I. Act)-03/NDD/PHC/NDD 14.05.2025 CC No. 14262/2023 Navya Singh Vs. Exerevnisi Pvt. Ltd. Page No. 8 of 8