NC Infotech takes KC Pro Infotech to court

Mumbai-based NC Infotech has taken legal action against Abhimanyu Kurdukar,

of KC Pro Infotech from the city. The latter had bought goods worth Rs 4 lakh

from NC Infotech in December 2007. Kurdukar made a payment of Rs 2 lakh in

installments, but failed to pay the remainder. Since he had overstretched the

credit period and was unable to pay the rest of the money, NC Infotech decided

to take legal recourse to settle the matter.

Narendar C Jain, Director of NC Infotech said, “Kurdukar had purchased goods

from us six months ago. He failed to repay Rs 2 lakh payment though we were

pressurizing him for the same. We offer a one-month credit period and still

waited six months for him to clear all dues. Later he gave us a cheque for Rs 2

lakh, which was dishonored by the bank and that is when we decided to take him

to court.”

Ashok Joshi, Partner of NC Infotech added, “We sent a legal notice to

Kurdukar when the second cheque was dishonored. He received the document but

still didn't take any action to repay the amount. We tried to call him but he

was unreachable. At this juncture we decided to take legal advice and under the

guidance of our lawyer we filed a case against him.”

Kurdukar however declined to comment on the issue, but stated that the issue

had been resolved. “I have communicated with NC Infotech and I don't know why

they are spreading these rumors about me,” he said.

So how did NC Infotech get caught into a case of payment default? Was it

because they did not do proper background checks on KC Pro Infotech? Jain

admitted that this was part of the reason, “As per our rules, we verify the

standing and credibility of new dealers before supplying any products to them.

In this particular case we had heard good things about KC Pro Infotech. We spoke

to three to four suppliers in the same domain and learnt that he was

trustworthy, which is why we started dealing with him. Now the scenario has

changed and we have been informed that many other suppliers are also facing

similar issues with him. But nobody has filed a case against him.”

Under the Indian law, issuing a cheque which is later dishonored can be

considered as a criminal offence and a case of fraud can be lodged against the

issuer of the cheque. Jagdish Navalkar, the prosecutor representing the case on

behalf of NC Infotech said, “We already filed a fraud case in the court against

KC Pro Infotech, under the section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. When

the payment was first dishonored, we sent him a 15-day demand notice. He failed

to clear the amount within the stipulated time which is why we had to file a

case against him.”

The first hearing of the case is in November 2008. The case number is 484/ss

2008 and 487/ss 2008. If found guilty, then the accused can face a two-year

imprisonment and a fine will be levied on him which will be double the amount of

the dishonored cheque.