Cheque Dishonor case (Section 138 NI Act): SC set aside the HC order allowing the complainant to amend the date of the cheque mentioned in the complaint

In a recent order, the Supreme Court (SC) set aside the judgment of the High Court (HC) allowing the complainant to amend the date of the cheque mentioned in the complaint in a cheque dishonor case. The bench comprising Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said, “The High Court has, in fact, lost sight of the fact that the documents also contain the said date and the evidence recorded is also to the same effect.” The SC bench observed that an application seeking amendment of the complaint was filed after the evidence stage was over. It further mentioned that from the very stage of the issue of the notice demanding payment, the date of the cheque had been indicated as 22.07.2010. Subsequent thereto, in the complaint as also while tendering the evidence, the date was recorded as 22.07.2010. In this case, the respondent filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (NI Act) read with Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

The top court observed, “Presently, an application has been filed seeking amendment of the date of the cheque from 22.07.2010 to 22.07.2012 as also changing the date in the evidence recorded by the complainant to the same effect.” It further added, “It is in that light, at the first instance, the learned Magistrate considering the application has rightly concluded that even if the amendment/ correction is permitted in the complaint to indicate the date as 22.07.2012, the evidence supporting the case of the appellant contains the year as 2010, and as such, the amendment/ correction would not be justified.” After hearing the matter, the SC disapproved the approach of the High Court stating that the legal notice which was issued before the complaint also mentioned the date July 22, 2010. 

The SC bench concluded, “In a matter of the present nature, where the date is a relevant aspect based on which the entire aspect relating to the issue of notice within the time frame as provided under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, and also as to whether as on the date there was sufficient balance in the account of the issuer of the cheque would be the question, the amendment, as sought for, in the present circumstance, was not justified.”