Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
JIWANLAL ACHARIYA
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
RAMESHWARLAL AGARWALLA
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
26/08/1966
BENCH:
WANCHOO, K.N.
BENCH:
WANCHOO, K.N.
SHAH, J.C.
BACHAWAT, R.S.
CITATION:
1967 AIR 1124 1967 SCR (1) 93
CITATOR INFO :
R 1981 SC1417 (6)
ACT:
Bihar Money Lenders (Regulation of Transactions) Act, 1939
(Bihar No. 7 of 1939), s. 4-Loan, if includes promissory
note.
Indian Limitation Act (9 of 1908), s. 20-Handing over post-
dated Cheque-Date of payment for purpose of limitation.
HEADNOTE:
The respondent advanced a loan to the appellant before he
was registered as money-lender in 1952 under the Bihar
Money-Lenders Act, 1939. On February 4, 1954 the appellant
executed a promissory note in renewal of this loan and on
the same day delivered to the respondent a postdated cheque
dated February 25, 1954 towards part payment of the debt.
The cheque was cashed soon after February 25, 1954. On
February 22, 1957, the respondent filed, a suit for recovery
of the sum on the basis of the promissory note. The
appellant contended that (i) the suit was not maintainable
under s. 4 of the Bihar Money-Lenders Act, because, the suit
promissory note was not a loan within the meaning of s. 4,
but was really renewal of a loan advanced when the
respondent was not registered as a money-lender under the
Act, and (ii) the suit was barred by limitation as the part
payment was made on February 4, 1954 when the post dated
cheque was given to the respondent.
HELD : (i) (Per Full Court) Section 4 of the Bihar Money-
Lenders Act was not a bar to the maintainability of the
suit. [195 F]
The word ’loan’ used in s. 4 has the same meaning as it has
in s. 2(f) and includes a transaction on a bond bearing
interest executed in respect of past liability. [195 E]
Surendra Prasad Narain Singh v. Sri Gajadhar Prasad Sahu
Trust Estate and Ors. [1940] F.C.R. 39 and B. S. Lyle v.
Chappeli, [1932] 1 K.B. 591, relied on.
The promissory note of February 4, 1954 was a loan within
the meaning of s. 2(f) and it was made after the respondent
had been registered. [195 F]
(ii) (Per Wanchoo and Shah, JJ.) The suit was not barred by
limitation.
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Where a post-dated cheque is accepted conditionally and it
is honoured the payment for purposes of s. 20 of the
Limitation Act can only be the date which the cheque bears
and cannot be on the date the cheque is handed over, for the
cheque, being post-dated, can never be paid till the date on
the cheque arrives. [197 H]
Commissioner of Income-tax v. Messrs. Ogale Glass Works
Ltd. [1955] 1 S.C.R. 185, Marreco v. Richardson, L.R. [1908]
2 K.B. 584 and Felix Hadley v. Hadley, L.R. [1898] 2 Ch.
680, distinguished.
Per Bachawat, J.-The suit was barred by limitation.
191
The doctrine that the payment takes effect from the date of
the delivery of the negotiable instrument is as much
applicable to a post-dated cheque and a bill payable on a
future date as to a cheque and a bill payable on demand.
During the currency of the post-dated cheque or of the bill
payable on a future date, the creditor cannot sue to recover
the original debt. The post dated cheque or the running
bill, if it is duly met operates as payment of the debt from
the date of its delivery. For the purposes of s. 20 of the
Limitation Act, also the date of the payment of the debt is
the date when the post-dated cheque was delivered to the
creditor and not the date which the cheque bare nor the date
when it was cashed. [199 G]
Commissiner of Income-tax, Bombay South Bombay v. Messrs.
Ogale Glass Works Ltd. Ogale Wadi, [1955] 1 S.C.R. 196,
Marreco v. Richardson, [1908] 2 K.B. 584 and Felix Hadley &
Co. v. Hadley [1898] 2 Ch. 680, relied on.
Kedar Nath Mitra v. Dinabandhu Saha, (1915) I.L.R. 42 Cal.
1043, .approved.
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 606 of 1966.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and decree dated
August 5, 1964 of the Patna High Court in Appeal from
Original Decree No. 362 of 1959.
P. K. Chatterjee, for the appellant.
The respondent did not appear.
The Judgment of WANCHOO and SHAH, JJ. was delivered by
WANCHOO, J. BACHAWAT, J. delivered a dissenting Opinion.
Wanchoo, J. Two questions of law arise in this appeal by
special leave against the judgment of the Patna High Court.
The facts which have been found by the High Court and which
are necessary for our purposes may be briefly narrated. The
appellant was the defendant in a suit filed by the
plaintiff-respondent for recovery of money on the basis of a
promissory note for Rs. 10,000 executed on February 4, 1954
by the defendant-appellant in favour of the plaintiff-
respondent. 12 per cent per, annum interest was to run on
the promissory note which was payable on demand or to the
order of the plaintiff-respondent. The suit was filed on
February 22, 1957 and was thus obviously beyond time from
February 4, 1954. The plaintiff-respondent relied on a
payment by cheque on February 25, 1954 to bring the suit
within time.
The two questions raised by the defendant-appellant which
now survive for decision arose in this way. The appellant
claimed that no money was in fact advanced on February 4,
1954 and that .the promissory note executed on that date was
to pay by renewal a loan for Rs. 4,000 which had been taken
as far back as October 1946. The sum of Rs. 10,000 included
the principal amount
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192
of Rs. 4,000 and the remainder was towards interest. The
defendant-appellant therefore claimed that the suit was
barred by s. 4. of the Bihar Money-Lenders (Regulation of
Transactions) Act, No. 7 of 1939 (hereinafter referred to as
the 1939-Act) which lays down that "no court shall entertain
a suit by a moneylender for the recovery of a loan advanced
by him after the commencement of this Act unless such money
lender was registered under the Bihar Money-Lenders Act 1938
at the time when such loan was advanced." It appears that
the joint family consisting of the respondent and his
brother was registered as a money-lender sometime about
1952, and the case of the defendant-appellant was that as
the loan was advanced really in 1946 when there was no
registration the suit was barred by s. 4 of the 1939-Act.
The other main defence was of limitation. The respondent’s
case on that point was simple, namely, that on February 25,
1954 a cheque for Rs. 1,000 was given in part payment and
therefore the three years period of limitation would start
from that date. The appellant’s case on the other hand was
that it was on February 4,1954 that a postdated cheque for
Rs. 1,000 was given and though the cheque might have been
cashed on or after February 25, 1954, the payment must be
deemed to have been made on February 4, 1954 and therefore
the three years period of limitation ran from that date and
the suit was out of time.
Thus two main questions arose for decision of the High
Court, namely, (i) whether the suit was not maintainable in
view of s. 4 of the 1939-Act and (ii) whether the suit was
barred by limitation. On the first question the High Court
held that s. 4 was not a bar to the maintainability of the
suit. On the facts the High Court held that there was no
actual advance of money on February 4, 1954 and that the
promissory note for Rs. 10‘000/- executed on that date was
in lieu of an earlier promissory note for Rs. 8,000 executed
on February 21, 1951. Even so the High court held that the
suit was maintainable as it was based on a loan alleged to
have been advanced in 1954 which was long after the
respondent’s family was registered as a money-lender. The
High Court was of the view that the maintainability of the
suit depended upon the pleadings on which the plaintiff came
to court and on the pleadings of the case, s. 4 had no
application. On the question of limitation the High Court
held that the case of the plaintiff-respondent that the
cheque for Rs. 1,000 dated February 25, 1954 was given on
that date was not correct. The High Court was of the view
that the cheque for Rs. 1,000 was given in fact on February
4, 1954, though it was post-dated to February 25,1954 and
was actually realised sometime after February 25, 1954.
Even so the High Court held that the delivery of the post-
dated cheque on February 4, 1954 could not be treated as an
unconditional payment and that for the purpose of s. 20 of
the Indian Limitation Act,
193
No. 9 of 1908, the payment must be held to have been made at
the earliest on February 25, 1954 for the cheque could not
possibly have been paid before that date. The High Court
therefore held that s. 20 applied as part payment had been
made on February 25, 1954 and the cheque itself was an
acknowledgment of the payment and was in the handwriting of
the appellant. The High Court therefore over-ruled both the
contentions of the defendant-appellant and after going into
the accounts decreed the suit for an amount which was
slightly less than that claimed by the plaintiff
-respondent.
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In the present appeal the same two questions of law have
been raised before us, namely-(i) whether the suit was not
maintainable in view of s. 4 of the 1939-Act, and (ii)
whether the suit was barred by the three-year rule of
limitation.
Re. (i).
We have already set out s. 4 of the 1939-Act and it does bar
a suit by a money-lender for recovery of a loan advanced by
him after the commencement of the 1939-Act unless the money-
lender is registered under the Bihar Money-Lenders Act, 3 of
1938. In the present case it is not in dispute that the
joint family of which the plaintiff-respondent was a member
was registered as a moneylender sometime about 1952. The
promissory note on the basis of which the suit was filed was
executed in 1954 after the registration and therefore prima
facie s. 4 would not bar the suit for the loan was advanced
after the plaintiff-respondent’s family had been registered
as a money-lender. But the appellant’s contention is that
the High Court found that real loan of Rs. 8,000 was
advanced in 1951 and that the promissory note for Rs. 10,000
executed February 4, 1954 was only in renewal of that loan,
and therefore s.4 applied.
We are of opinion that there is no force in this contention.
It is necessary in this connection to refer to the
definition of the word "loan" in s. 2 (f) of the 1939-Act.
" ’Loan’ means an advance, ‘whether of money or in kind, on
interest made by a money-lender. and shall include a
transaction on a bond bearing interest executed in respect
of past liability and any transaction which in substance is
a loan, but shall not include............ (rest is
immaterial)....."It will be seen from this definition that
the word "loan" for purposes of the 1939-Act includes not
only an actual advance whether of money or in kind but also
a transaction on a bond bearing interest executed in respect
of past liability, i.e. an instrument which is in renewal of
a past advance of money . It is, however, urged on behalf of
the appellant that a promissory note is not a bond, even
though the promissory note in dispute might have been
executed in respect of past liability and bore interest.
Now the word "bond" has not been defined in the 1939-Act.
It is true that a bond for the purpose of the Stamp Act is
not the same thing
194
as a promissory note. But it appears to us that the word
"bond" is not used in s. 2 (f) in the special sense in which
it has been defined in the Indian Stamp Act. It appears to
have been used in its general sense, that is, a deed by
which one person binds himself to pay a sum to another
person. This was the view taken by the Federal Court in
Surendra Prasad Narain Singh v. Sri Gajadhar Prasad Sahu
Trust Estate and others (1) and we respectfully agree with
it. Sulaiman J. after referring to the definition of the
word "bond" in the Indian Stamp Act and the Limitation Act
pointed out that "the essential common feature of these de-
finitions is ’any instrument whereby a person obliges
himself’." He accordingly held that the meaning of the word
"bond" for the purpose of the 1939-Act was an instrument
which itself obliges the obligor to the obligee, that is to
say, "the language of the instument itself must expressly
create the obligation." This view of Sulaiman J. was
apparently accepted by the other two learned Judges.
Theirefore all that s. 2 (f) requires is that there should
be an instrument in writing by which the obligor obliges
himself to pay the past liability and the instrument should
bear interest. These conditions are satisfied in the
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present case, for by the promissory note of February 4, 1954
the defendant-appellant obliged himself to the respondent
and it was in respect of past liability and bore interest.
Clearly therefore this transaction of February 4, 1954 was a
loan within the meaning of s. 2(f) of the 1939-Act.
But it is urged that when s. 4 speaks of loan, it does not
include the inclusive part of the definition given in s.
2(f) of the 1939-Act and only refers to that part of the
definition in s. 2(f) which says that a loan means an
advance whether of money or in kind on interest made by a
money-lender. It is true that definitions in s. 2 begin
with the words "in this Act, unless there is anything
repugnant in the subject or context" and therefore it may be
possible to argue that in s. 4 the word "loan" should not be
given the meaning which has been given to it in s. 2(f).
But what learned counsel argues is that it should be given
that meaning in s. 2(f), which says that it has to be an
advance whether of money or in kind, but it should not be
given the extended meaning which it has in s. 2(f) by the
inclusive part of the definition. We cannot accept this
contention. We have to use the definition of "loan" given
in s. 2(f) in its entirety for the purpose of s. 4 or we
should not use it at all. But we cannot say that half the
definition should be used for the purpose of s. 4 and not
the other half. Further we see no reason to hold that the
intention was that in s. 4 the word "loan" should have any
meaning other than that given to it in s. 2(f). In this
connection stress is laid on the words "advanced by him"
which qualify the word "loan", and it is said that when a
promissory note is made in renewal of a past liability
arising out
(1) [1940] F.C.R. 39.
195
of an earlier advance, it cannot be said that any loan was
advanced’. when the renewal was made. There are two answers
to this argu-ment. When a loan is renewed by the execution
of a fresh docu-ment there is no difficulty in holding that
the former loan was repaid by borrowing a fresh loan on the
document of renewal : (see B. S. Lyle Limited v. Chappeli
(1). So the transaction of February 4, 1954 itself can be
treated as a fresh loan for the purpose of s. 4 of the 1939-
Act. Secondly, we are of opinion that there is no reason to
lay such emphasis on the word "advanced" in s. 4 as is being
done on behalf of the appellant. The word "advanced"
appears to have been used there for convenience of language,
particularly to indicate that the loan must have been made
after the commencement of the 1939-Act. If we were to
substitute the first part of the definition of "loan" in s.
4, (for it is not disputed on behalf of the appellant that
the first part certainly applies to the word "loan" in s.
4), the relevant part of the section will read like this :
"for the recovery of an advance whether of nioiley or in
kind advanced by him". That will show that the word
"advanced" was used in s. 4 merely for convenience of
language and means no more than what would have been meant
by using the word "made" or "given" in place of "advanced".
It does not imply that there should have been an actual
advance whether of money or in kind. All that it means is
that a loan as defined in s. 2(f) should have been made and
if it was after the commencement of the 1939-Act the money-
lender would have to be registered before he could maintain
a suit. We have therefore no hesitation in holding that the
word "loan" used in s. 4 has the same meaning as it has in
s. 2(f) and includes a transaction on a bond bearing
interest executed in respect of past liability. As the
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promissory note of February 4, 1954 is a loan within the
meaning of s. 2(f) and as it was made after the joint family
firm of the respondent had been registered s. 4 is not a bar
to the maintainability of the suit. We therefore hold
accordingly.
Re. (ii).
This brings us to the question of limitation. The facts are
not in dispute now. The promissory note was executed on
February 4, 1954. On the same date a post-dated cheque
bearing the date February 25, 1954 was given by the
defendant-appellant to the plaintiff-respondent, the
intention being that on being realised it would be credited
towards part payment. It was realised sometime after
February 25, 1954 and was credited towards part payment, the
appellant himself having made an endorsement admitting this
part payment. But it is contended on behalf of the
appellant that as the post-dated cheque was given on
February 4, 1954, that must be held to be the date on which
part payment was made... It has been held by the High Court
that the acceptance of the post-
(1) [1932] 1 K.B. 691.
196
dated cheque on February 4, 1954 was not an unconditional
acceptance. Where a bill or note is given by way of
payment, the payment may be absolute or conditional, the
strong presumption being in favour of conditional payment.
It follows from the ’finding of the High Court that the
payment was conditional, i.e. that the payment will be
credited to the person giving the cheque -in case the cheque
is honoured. In the present case the cheque was realised
and the question is what is the date of payment in the
,circumstances of this case for the purpose of s. 20 of the
Limitation Act. Section 20 inter alia lays down that where
payment on ac,,count of debt is made before the expiration
of the prescribed period by the person liable to pay the
debt, a fresh period of limitation shall be computed from
the time when the payment was made. Where therefore the
payment is by cheque and is conditional, the mere delivery
of the cheque on a particular date does not mean that the
payment was made on that date unless the cheque was accepted
as unconditional payment. Where the cheque is not accepted
as an unconditional payment, it can only be treated as a
’Conditional payment. In such a case the payment for
purposes of s. 20 would be the date on which the cheque
would be actually payable at the earliest, assuming that it
will be honoured. Thus ,if in the present case the cheque
which was handed over on February 4, 1954 bore the date
February 4, 1954 and was honoured when presented to the bank
the payment must be held to have -been made on February 4,
1954, namely, the date which the cheque bore. But if the
cheque is post dated as in the present case it is obvious
that it could not be paid till February 25, 1954 which -was
the date it bore. As the payment was conditional it would
only be good when the cheque is presented on the date it
bears, namely, February 25, 1954 and is honoured. The
earliest date therefore on which the respondent could have
realised the cheque which he had received as conditional
payment on February 4, 1954 was the 25th February 1954 if he
had presented it on that date and ’it had been honoured.
The fact that he presented it later and was then paid is
immaterial for it is the earliest date on which the payment
could be made that would be the date where the conditional
acceptance of a post-dated cheque becomes actual payment
when honoured. We are therefore of opinion that as a post-
dated cheque ’was given on February 4, 1954 and it was dated
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February 25, 1954 and as this was not a case of
unconditional acceptance, the payment for the purpose of s.
20 of the Limitation Act could only be on February 25, 1954
when the cheque could have been presented .at the earliest
for payment. As in the present case the cheque was honoured
it must be held that the payment was made on February 25,
1954. It is not in dispute that the proviso to s. 20 is
,complied with in this case, for the cheque itself is an
acknowledgment of the payment in the handwriting of the
person giving the cheque. We are therefore of opinion that
a fresh period of
197
limitation began on February 25, 1954 which was the date of
thepost-dated cheque which was eventually honoured.
The decision of this Court in Commissioner of Income-tax v.
Messrs. Ogale Glass Works Ltd.(1) does not support the
propo-sition that even where the acceptance of a post-dated
cheque is conditional the date on which payment is made is
the date of acceptance of the post-dated cheque provided it
is honoured. It is true that there are observations in that
case to the effect that if’ the cheque is not dishonoured
the payment related back to the date of the receipt of the
cheque, and in law the date of payment was the date of the
delivery of the cheque. There is nothing to show however
that this Court was dealing with a post-dated chequein that
case. The cheques in question in that case were issued by
the Government of India and we have no reason to suppose
that they were post-dated. The observations therefore made
in that case must in our opinion be read in the light of the
fact that the cheques in that case were not shown to be
post-dated. Where therefore the cheque bears the date on
which it is delivered and it is honoured, Ogale’s case lays
down that the payment is on the dateon which the cheque was
delivered. But it is difficult to accept the proposition
that the same would be the position where the cheque is
post-dated, for it is clear that no payment of a post-dated
chequeis possible before the date which it bears. Section
20 of the Limitation Act saves limitation from the date of
payment, and if the payment is made by a post-dated cheque,
unless the cheque is accepted as unconditional payment, it
cannot be regarded as payment before the due date. We see
no reason to hold that in such a casealso the payment is on
the date the cheque is delivered.
In the case of Marreco v. Richardson (2) the cheque bore
thedate on which it was delivered, though there was an oral
arrangement that it would not be presented for sometime, and
it was in those circumstances that the court held that the
date of payment must be the date of delivery,
notwithstanding the oral arrangement.That case in our
opinion is no authority for the proposition that if the
cheque is in fact post-dated the payment even though condi--
tional would still have been on the date it was handed over.
The case of Felix Hadley v. Hadley (3) also does not help,
the appellant as that case did not deal with a post-dated
cheque. We may however add that we are expressing no
opinion as to what would happen in case there was a bill
payable on a future date,, for the question does not
directly arise in the present appeal. But there can in our
opinion be no doubt that where a post-dated cheque is
accepted conditionally and it is honoured, the payment for
purposes of s. 20 of the Limitation Act can only be the date
which,
(1) [1955] 1 S.C.R. 185. (2) L.R. [1908] 2 K.B. 584.
(3) L.R. [1898] 2 Ch. 680.
198
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the cheque bears and cannot be on the date the cheque is
handed over, for the cheque, being post-dated, can never be
paid till the date on the cheque arrives. In the present
case the cheque was dated February 25, 1954 and was honoured
soon after and therefore the date of payment for the purpose
of s. 20 of the Limitation Act would be the 25th February,
1954. The suit was therefore within time and the second
contention raised on behalf of the appellant must also fail.
We therefore dismiss the appeal, but as the respondent has
not appeared in this Court we make no order as to costs.
Bachawat, J. For the reasons given by Wanchoo, J. I agree
that the suit is not barred by s. 4 of the Bihar Money-
Lenders (Regulation of Transactions) Act No. 7 of 1939, but,
in my opinion, the suit is barred by limitation.
On February 4, 1954, the appellant executed a promissory
note for Rs. 10,000. On the same date, he delivered to the
respondent a cheque dated February 25, 1954 and signed by
him for Rs. 1,000 towards part payment of the debt. The
respondent received the cheque as conditional payment. The
chequewas cashed soon after February 25, 1954. The suit was
instituted .on February 22, 1957. Under s. 20 of the Indian
Limitation Act, 1908, a fresh period of limitation has to be
computed from the time when the part payment of the debt was
made, provided an acknowledgment of the payment appears in
the handwriting or in a writing signed by the person making
the payment. Now, the question is when was the part payment
of the debt made ? Was it made on the date of the delivery
of the cheque or on the date which the cheque bore or on the
date when the cheque was encashed ?
A creditor may receive a bill or a cheque as a conditional
payment of a pre-existing debt, i.e. as a payment
conditional on ,the instrument being duly honoured on
presentation. If the cheque is honoured, the date of the
payment of the debt is the date when the cheque was
delivered and not the date when it was honoured. For
purposes of s. 20 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 also,
the cheque is the payment and the date of the payment is the
date of the delivery of the cheque. The cheque also serves
as an acknowledgment of this payment, see Kedar Nath Mitra
v. Dinabdndhu Saha(1). When the banker honours the cheque,
the cheque is paid and discharged but the debt is not paid
over again ; the debt was paid when the cheque was
delivered. These principles are well settled. In Marreco
v. Richardson(2), Farewell, L. J. said:
"In the more recent case of Felix Hadley & Co.
v. Hadley(3) Byrne J. held that a cheque or a
bill of exchange given in respect of a pre-
existing debt operated as a condi-
(1) [1915] I. L. R. 42 Cal. 1043,1048.
(3) [1898] 2 Ch. 680.
(2) [1908] 2 K. B. 584, 593.
199
tional payment thereof, and on the condition
being performed by actual payment, the payment
related back to the time when the cheque or
bill was given. That is only expressing the
same principle in another form, and I should
prefer to say that the giving of a cheque for
a debt is payment conditional on the cheque
being met, that is, subject to a condition
subsequent, and if the cheque is met it is an
actual payment ab initio and not a conditional
one. There was only one act of payment here,
that on May 10, and that was out of time for
the purpose of avoiding the operation of the
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statute."
In the last case, the cheque was delivered on May 10, 1900.
It was post-dated May 20, 1900. It was agreed that the
cheque would not be presented for payment until June 20,
1900 on which day it was presented for payment and was paid
by the bankers. It was held that the date of the part
payment of the debt was May 10 and not May 20, nor June 20.
In The Commissioner of Income-tax, Bombay South
Bombay,v.Messrs. Ogale Glass Works Ltd. Ogale Wadi(1) this
Court held:
"..even if the cheques were taken
conditionally, the cheques not having been
dishonoured but having been cashed, the
payment related back to the dates of the
receipt of the cheques and in law the dates of
payment ",ere the dates of the delivery of the
cheques."
It is to be observed that the Court made no distinction
between a cheque bearing the date on which it was delivered
and a postdated cheque. It is immaterial whether the cheque
is post-dated or ante-dated or dated the day of the
delivery. On the cheque being met, the payment of the debt
relates back to the date of the receipt of the cheque and,
in law, the date of the payment is the date of the delivery
of the cheque, and not the date which the cheque bore nor
the date when it was cashed.
The doctrine that the payment takes effect from the date of
the delivery of the negotiable instrument is as much
applicable to a post-dated cheque and a bill payable on a
future date as to a cheque and a bill payable on demand.
During the currency of the post-dated cheque or of the bill
payable on a future date, the creditor cannot sue to recover
the original debt. The post-dated cheque or the running
bill, if it is duly met, operates as payment of the debt
from the date of its delivery. For the purposes of s. 20 of
the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 also, the date of the pay-
ment of the debt is the date when the post-dated cheque was
delivered to the creditor and not the date which the cheque
bore nor
(1) [1955] 1 S. C. R. 185,196.
200
the date when it was cashed. I cannot subscribe to the
novel view that the date of the payment is the date written
on the cheque. In my opinion, the payment was made on
February 4, 1954 and not on February 25, 1954 nor on the
date when the cheque was subsequently cashed. It follows
that the suit is barred by limitation and should be
dismissed.
In the result, the appeal is allowed with costs, the decree
of the High Court is set aside and the decree of the trial
Court is restored.
ORDER
In accordance with the opinion of the majority, the appeal
is dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.
Y.P
201