What to do in case of cheque bounce

504 votes

The cheque given to you bounced three months back. The query itself reveals that you had not taken any legal steps so far. To file a criminal case against the drawer of the cheque some mandatory legal steps have to be taken. (1). The cheque should be presented within the period of its validity i.e. 3months (2). A statutory notice of demand should be issued to the drawer for payment of the cheque amount within 15 days from the date of receipt of the statutory notice. (3). If after receiving the notice if the drawer does not pay the cheque amount within 15 days then a cause of action to file the complaint arises. (4). The Complaint should be filed within one month from the date of cause of action.i.e after expiry of 15 days as mentioned above. Another important thing is that the cheque should have been issued by the drawer towards an legally enforceable debt or liability. In your case, going by your very query you had not issued a statutory notice wlithin one month from the date of intimation from the bank.So you cannot file any criminal case under Negotiable Instruments Act. But you can file a civil suit for recovery of cheque amount on the basis of cheque if you do not have any other documentary evidence to prove that the drawer had taken money from you.

Advocate C Hari Prasad LawRato

695 votes

U have to give 15 days to return the payment and therefore file a complaint before court wherein subject matter of jurisdiction. Within 30 received if notice by the accused person. Total u have 45 days

Advocate Akhil Verma LawRato

878 votes

In the event the cheque is dishonoured you will have to serve a legal notice within 30 days of the said intimation giving him 15 days time to make good his liability, if he fails you will have a further 30 days period to file a complaint before the magistrate. Limitation is crucial in 138 cases.

Advocate Aditi Gupta LawRato

607 votes

Once it gets bounced, please get a legal notice issued within 30 days from the date of cheque bounce.
Give 15 days to pay the amount.
And upon expiry of 15 days, you may file a case under Section 138 within 30 days.

Advocate Urfee Haider LawRato

563 votes

If the cheque bounce then you can present it again to the bank within 3 months so it is suggested that you present it twice before the bank and if this gets dishonored send a legal notice to the drawer within 30 days asking him to make payment and if he do not reply or never made the payment you can file a complaint with the judicial Magistrate of an offence under section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act.

Cause of action arises only on failure of the drawer to pay demanded sum within the notice period and on expiry of notice period.

What is the Procedure for filing a complaint?
Complaint u/s 138 of NI, Act has to be filed within 30 days from the date of cause of action i.e. not before expiry of notice period nor after 30 days from the date of cause of action. The Apex court in the case of MSR Leathers v. planniappan & Anr, reversed its earlier judgment in Sadanandan Bhadran v. Madhavan Sunil Kumara and held that a payee or holder of a cheque can now issue a statutory notice to the drawer each time the cheque is dishonoured on subsequent presentations and institute proceedings on the basis of a second or successive statutory notice as well.

Section 142 of Act starts with "Notwithstanding anything contained in Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973" and mandates that no court shall take cognizance of the offence unless a complaint in writing is given by the payee or holder in due course as the case may be and such complaint has to be made within one month from the date of cause of action.

The effect of this non obstante clause is that NI Act overrides the provisions of Cr.P.C. to the extent as stated in the NI Act. This section also permits belated complaints filed after prescribed period provided the complainant satisfies the court with sufficient grounds for late filing.

Advocate Vinay Vats LawRato

868 votes

Issue a legal notice and ask to pay the amount if he would fail to do file a suit against in hon'ble court in which juridiction is your bank situated.
Keep in mind that it is time bar suit.
Limitation period is to be followed
Thanks

Advocate Parveen Kumar LawRato

985 votes

Hi... First you have to send one legal notice to finance and wait for their reply. If you received summons from the court then you have to appear before court and you have to take bail and continue with evidence.
Thank you

Advocate Rama Chandra Shenoy LawRato

984 votes

Once you received court summons from a cheque bounce case ( Criminal Case) you need to be present in court on that day in person/ advocate and need to contest the matter with necessary documentary proofs / Settle the matter otherwise court will issue warned on that matter
Approach advocate with both the notices and all other Documents

Advocate Edward D'souza LawRato