M/S.SIL IMPORT EXPORT vs M/S.EXIM AIDES SILK EXPORTERS — Crl.A. No. 488/1999

Case Summary: M/S. SIL IMPORT EXPORT v. M/S. EXIM AIDES SILK EXPORTERS Decision: The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and dismissed the complaint against the petitioner, holding that the magistrate lacked jurisdiction to take cognizance of the cheque dishonor offense because the complaint was filed beyond the statutory one-month period. Key Reasoning: The court ruled that a fax notice sent on 11-6-1996 and received by the petitioner the same day constitutes valid written notice under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The 15-day payment period and subsequent one-month complaint filing deadline are calculated from the date of fax receipt. Since the complaint was filed on 8-8-1996 (beyond the 26-7-1996 deadline), the court lost jurisdiction. The court also held that cause of action arises only once per cheque dishonor, establishing that fax satisfies modern statutory interpretation requirements. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.