Madras High Court has condoned the delay regarding limitation in filing of a criminal case primarlily on the ground that value of cheque involved was very high.
A bench of Justice Venkatesh has passed the prder in the case titled as Sri Vari Finance rep. by S.Prakaash vs A.Sellamuthu on 31.07.2019.
The petitioner had filed a complaint before the court below against the respondent for an offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The complaint was filed with a delay of 47 days. The reasons given by the petitioner was that the cheque was misplaced in the office of the petitioner and therefore, it took some time to trace the cheque and therefore, it had resulted in a delay of 47 days in filing the complaint. The trial court had dismissed the petition on the ground that no proper explanation was given by the petitioner with regard to the reasons assigned for the delay and each day's delay has not been properly explained.
The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the court below went wrong in dismissing the petition and the court below expected the petitioner to explain as to how the cheque went missing in the office of the petitioner. The court below had considered the petition in a very hyper technical manner and the petitioner must be allowed to contest the case on merits.
In such circumstances, the High Court set aside the dismissal order saying "It is true that the petitioner has taken a completely new stand before this Court as if the cheque was misplaced in the office of the Advocate. However, taking into consideration the value of the cheque which is nearly Rs.8,00,000/- and also considering the number of days of delay which is only 47 days, this Court does not want to dismiss this petition for the mistake of the Advocate in adding the ground as if the cheque was misplaced in the office of the Advocate. This Court wants to give an opportunity to the petitioner to contest the case on merits".
Read the Order here:
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