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2022 (8) TMI 222 - HC - Indian LawsDishonor of Cheque - principal ground before the learned Sessions Judge, the entire amount payable under the dishonoured cheques was cleared - Section 141 of the N. I. Act, 1881 - HELD THAT:- Evidently, it does not appear that the accused had specifically indicated the debt towards which the amount was to be appropriated. Section 59 of the Indian Contract Act provides for appropriation of payments by the debtor. Where the debtor makes a payment either with express intimation, or under circumstance implying that the payment is to be applied to the discharge of some particular debt, the payment, if accepted must be applied by the creditor to that particular debt. Undoubtedly the attendant circumstances of a given case are required to be taken into account while exercising the discretion to close the proceedings in exercise of the power under Section 143 of the N.I. Act read with Section 258 of the Code. The nature of the underlying transaction, the nature of the relationship between the parties; jural and otherwise, the special damages which the complainant suffered on account of the dishonour of the cheque, the existence of pressing circumstances which make the payment of the amount covered by the cheque the essence of the transaction between the parties, the circumstances in which the amount could not be paid within the grace period under clause “c” of the proviso to Section 138 of the Act, the proximity of the payment or offer of payment to the institution of the complaint and the element of the bona fide, are few of the factors which bear upon the decision to close the proceedings. The conspectus of discussion is that in the facts of the case at hand since the amount covered by the dishonoured cheques is indisputably paid, the Court would be justified in invoking the power under Section 143 read with Section 258 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to close the proceedings upon payment of interest and costs of proceedings - petition allowed.
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