Do you know you can file cheque bounce cases in your city where you deposited the cheque?

Do you know you can file cheque bounce cases in your city where you deposited the cheque?

If you have received a cheque from a party and the issuing bank that are based not in your city say Bengaluru. And when such a cheque bounces, you can file a complaint in your city Bengaluru only and you don’t have to go to a place where the cheque issuing bank has jurisdiction or to the place of the party issuing the cheque.

It is the party who has issued the cheque that has bounced has to travel to your city to attend legal proceedings.

The punishment for cheque bouncing includes both imprisonment and penalty. Such cases tend to go on for a long time.

The government has recently notified the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, which allows the complainant to file a complaint in the city, where he is based or where the cheque has been deposited. The Act was passed by Parliament in its winter session that concluded in December 2015.

Complainants whose cheques have bounced can be happy about this move. People issuing the cheques have to be more careful because in the absence of sufficient amount or diverse signature, they will have to go through the pain of travelling to another city repeatedly to fight their case.