TMI Blog1981 (3) TMI 270X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ritten at the auspicious place, Shri Baran; please accept salutations from Shri Panna Lalji Birdhi Chandji to Shri Panna Lalji Birdhi Chandji. We have received here from Mahendra Kumar Aggarwal a sum of ₹ 5,000/- in lieu of this hundi. The amount shall be paid to the Shah (a respectable person) on Phagun Badi 10, 2032 BK, at once according to the custom of Shahjog hundis. Signature 2. One of the common preliminary objections raised by the respective defendants in these suits is that the hundis in question are chargeable with duty under Schedule I, Article 13, Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (hereafter called the Act), being hundis covered by the definition of the expression bill of exchange , as contained in Section 2(2) of the Act, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... made payable on a future stated period or date, the hundi falls within the definition of bill of exchange payable on demand , as given in Section 2(3) of the Act. He took special note of the error committed by the trial Judge in not treating the hundi in that case to be a bill of exchange payable on demand merely on the ground that its payment had been postponed to a future date. In this context, the learned Judge called special attention to the provisions of Section 2(3)(b) of the Act and pointed out that the said provisions give an extended meaning to the expression bill of exchange payable on demand . If I may say so with respect the learned Judge was perfectly right in making this observation. If we read the definition of bill of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of exchange payable on demand may be stated as follows :-- (i) An order for the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available. (ii) An order for the payment of any sum of money upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen. (iii) An order for the payment of any sum of money weekly, monthly, or at any other stated periods. It will be seen that none of the three types of instruments enumerated above can be said to be payable on demand, properly so called, but they are all included in the definition of the expression bill of exchange payable on demand as given in Section 2(3) of the Act. We must accept the meaning of bill of exchange payable on d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1881, it could not possibly be described as a bill of exchange payable on demand because according to Section 19, it is only if no time for payment is specified in a bill of exchange that it can be described as a bill of exchange payable on demand, and not otherwise. When we are dealing with the question as to whether a particular instrument is chargeable with duty or not, and if chargeable, whether it has been duly stamped, we must decide the matter solely with reference to the provisions of the Stamp Act. 9. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that since the payee could not enforce payment on any of these hundis before a certain date in future, it would be wholly wrong to describe these hundis to be bill of exchange paya ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cited before the learned single Judge of the Delhi High Court who decided Suraj Ram Khurana's case 1973 Pun LR 88 mentioned above. Instead, a single Bench decision of this Court reported in Tikab Chand v. Laxmi Chand, AIR 1961 Raj 87, was cited before him and he did not accept the reasoning in Tikam Chand's case as correct. Jagat Narayan J. who decided Tikam Chand's case had himself explained subsequently in Hanuman v. Fattu, 1967 Raj LW 466: AIR 1967 Raj 235) that his reasoning in Tikam Chand's case was not correct. If counsel concerned appearing before the learned single Judge of the Delhi High Court had cited before him Mool Chand's case and Kanhaiyalal's case, instead of citing Tikam Chand's case, it is poss ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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