Venkat R Venkitachalam (Consultant) 01 July 2009

Jurisdiction of Courts

Here is a simple yet important query.

While hearing a Complaint under Sec. 138 the Magistrate comes to the conclusion that he has no jurisdiction to try the case. What happens then? Obviously a fresh notice to the Accused would be beyond the time limit presecribed in Sec.138. Does the proceedings remain in tact except that the case would be tried by another Court which has jurisdiction without affecting any of the actions alredy taken by the Complainant?

Venkat

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5 Replies

Adv. Deepak (Advocate) 01 July 2009

Dear Mr. Venkat, If the complaint is made to a Magistrate who is not competent to take cognizance, then he shall return it for presentation to the proper court with an endorsement to that effect. In that case, what is required is just to file that complaint with the court having proper jurisdiction. No fresh notice is required to be issued. The proceedings will remain intact.

Venkat R Venkitachalam (Consultant) 01 July 2009

Great. Thanks a million for your response. Regards,

Venkat

Ramakrishnan.V (Lawyer) 02 July 2009

when the time is barred, what is the effect of the complaint

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Venkat R Venkitachalam (Consultant) 02 July 2009

In this case when the Complaint was filed originally, it was done in time. The questionof time-bar comes only if a fresh notice has to be given to the Accused. According to Mr. Deepak that is not necessary and proceedings continue with only change in jurisdiction.

If the question is of a general nature about time-barred filing under Sec.138, an application for condononation of delay could be preferred.

Venkat