Case Details:
Case Name: Upasana Mishra v Trek Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
Case No.: Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 9062 of 2023
Bench: Hon’ble C.T. Ravikumar, J. Hon’ble Sanjay Kumar, J.
The Hon’ble Apex Court set aside the impugned orders passed by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court and summoning order passed by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, Saket Courts, New Delhi.
It was a unique case where both the petitioner and the respondent, paradoxically, relied on the same judgment passed by the Hon’ble Apex Court in case of Suman Sethi v Ajay K. Churiwal.
The Court upon perusal of records found that it was a settled principle of law that a notice has to be read as a whole.
In the notice a demand has to be made for the cheque amount and if no such demand is made in the notice it would fall short of its legal requirement.
The Court also observed that whether the notice is bad would depend on the language of the notice. The Court held that “If in a notice while giving the break up of the claim the cheque amount, interest, damages etc. are separately specified, other such claims for interest, cost etc. would be superfluous and these additional claims would he severable- and will not invalidate the notice. If, however, in the notice an omnibus demand is made without specifying what was due under the dishonored cheque, notice might well fail to meet the legal requirement and may be regarded as bad.”
The Court specified that the demand notice mandates demand has to be made for the cheque amount and therefore, notice sans such demand would fall short of legal requirement.
The Court further emphasised that “At the same time, we will reiterate the position that if in a notice while giving the break up of the claim the cheque amount interest, damages, etc. are separately specified and these additional claims would be severable, such demand would not invalidate the notice. In short, in a notice of demand made under the N.I. Act demand shall not be omnibus, there must be a clear demand for the cheque amount lest notice will be invalid.”
The Court held that the notice by the petitioner contains omnibus demand and was considered invalid and the appeal stands allowed and impugned order by the High Court of Delhi and the summoning order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate stands quashed.
Read the judgment/order here : 28209_2023_14_35_49038_Order_12-Dec-2023_Upload
