The Madras High Court today ordered notice to the Centre on a petition seeking to Declare the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) second ordinance 2015 relating to dishonour of cheques as unconstitutional.
Justices R Sudhakar and V M Velumani of the Madurai bench ordered notice to the Secretaries of Ministries of Law and Justice and Finance and Corporate affairs, seeking their replies within two weeks.
Petitioner C R Tamilvanan, Managing Director of C R T Granites of Dindigul, submitted that the ordinance promulgated on September 22, 2015 contained the same clause as in Negotiable Instruments (Amendment bill) 2015, introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha but not in Rajya Sabha.
In fact, the bill was withdrawn. Besides, earlier the decision to withdraw the same bill was reported after the concurrence of the Lok Sabha, he submitted.
Tamilvanan contended that the Preamble of the Ordinance ran counter to the business of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), which said the bill was being withdrawn.
When the bill itself had been withdrawn, there was no reason for issuance of an executive order in the form of an ordinance, he said.
Besides, the Ordinance ran counter to a Supreme Court judgement which held that under the Negotiable Instruments Act, in cheque dishonour cases, the case could be filed only in court which had territorial jurisdiction where the cheque is dishonoured by the bank.
As per the apex court order, cases filed against him before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Bangalore, by one Devadass, as his (Tamilvanan's) cheques had reportedly bounced, had been transferred to the Judicial Magistrate's court in Dindigul town where he is a resident.
Now again by virtue of the second ordinance, the cases could be sent back to Bangalore, he said and sought a stay on transfer of cases from Dindigul to Bangalore.
