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Showing contexts for: legally enforceable debts in Patel Jayantibhai Mafatlal vs State Of Gujarat on 15 March, 2018Matching Fragments
18.1 The Apex Court in case of C. Antony Versus K.G. Raghavan Nair reported in (2003) 1 SCC 1, has held that even if the other view is possible, from the very set of evidence, to arrive at, that also is not the ground to interfere by the Appellate Court.
:: Legally enforceable debt, whether proved (Issue No.2)::
19. So far as the question of proving legally enforceable debt by the complainant is concerned, the law has been laid down by the three Judges Bench of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rangappa Versus Sri Mohan, reported in (2010) 11 SCC 441, wherein it is held that presumption mandated by Section 139 of the Act include the existence of legally enforceable debt or liability and this being a rebuttal presumption, of course, such presumption can be R/CR.A/1140/2017 JUDGMENT rebutted by the accused by raising the defence and on contesting liability.
10. It has been contended on behalf of the appellantaccused that the presumption mandated by Section 139 of the Act does not extend to the existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability and that the same stood rebutted in this case, keeping in mind the discrepancies in the complainant's version. It was reasoned that it is open to the accused to rely on the R/CR.A/1140/2017 JUDGMENT materials produced by the complainant for disproving the existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability. It has been contended that since the complainant did not conclusively show whether a debt was owed to him in respect of a hand loan or in relation to expenditure incurred during the construction of the accused's house, the existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability had not been shown, thereby creating a probable defence for the accused. Counsel appearing for the appellant accused has relied on a decision given by a division bench of this Court in Krishna Janardhan Bhat v. Dattatraya G. Hegde, (2008) 4 SCC 54, the operative observations from which are reproduced below (S.B. Sinha, J. at Paras. 2932, 34 and 45):
"29. Section 138 of the Act has three ingredients viz.:
(i) that there is a legally enforceable debt
(ii) that the cheque was drawn from the account of bank for discharge in whole or in part of any debt or other liability which presupposes a legally enforceable debt; and
(iii) that the cheque so issued had been returned due to insufficiency of funds.
45. It can be also concluded reiteratively that the complainant has succeeded before the trial Court in proving the existence of a legally enforceable debt or liability. Even if the withdrawal of the amounts from various relatives has not come directly from the bank accounts, the complainant succeeded in proving the same through the oral evidence and also by providing accurate details of various relatives from whom, he had collected the amount to be handed over to the respondentaccused. As a result of which, the respondent No.2 had agreed to make the payment to the tune of Rs.31 lakh and odd by giving a portion of his land of the property to the complainant in the event of his nonfulfillment of his promise of making the appellant a partner in the business for which the complainant had trusted him and handed over the huge sum. It is a matter of record that on the failure of the respondentaccused to even honour the obligation by getting the land cleared from the Bank, where, it R/CR.A/1140/2017 JUDGMENT was mortgaged, he had chosen to issue a cheque for Rs.36 lakh. This was done in the month of October/November, when the entire transaction failed and the same when was presented to the Bank, it resulted into dishonor of the cheque. The overall circumstances, which thus emerged on record, and which the complainant succeeded in proving from the oral as well as documentary evidence lead to the conclusion of existing of legally enforceable debt. Number of complainants have been filed against the respondentaccused and which also resulted into his conviction in some of the matters. Although, these are additional factors and grounds they also are substantiating the say of the complainant. This Court holds firmly that the trial Court committed no error in believing that the complainant succeeded in discharging the burden that there exists a legally enforceable debt or liability, and thereafter, the legal presumption was required to be dislodged or rebutted by the accusedrespondent, which he miserably failed to do with preponderance of probabilities, and therefore, findings and the conclusions arrived at by the Sessions Court deserve to be quashed and set aside. The judgment and order of the appellate Court, as can be seen from appreciation of evidence that the view taken by the Appellate Court is unsustainable being contrary to the well settled cannon of law on the subject as also established by various decisions of the Apex Court.