ਆਪਣੀ ਜਾਣਕਾਰੀ ਭਰੋ

CHEQUE DISHONOUR LEGAL NOTICE

Demand under clause (b) of the proviso to section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (the Act)

Date: __________

Place: __________

__________

To: __________, __________

From: __________, __________ (email __________, telephone __________), called the Payee in this notice

Subject: Cheque No. __________ dated __________ for __________, returned unpaid, and demand for its amount

1. The debt. __________ On the day the cheque was given, __________ was due from you to the Payee on that account, a debt enforceable at law. __________

1. The cheque. You drew cheque No. __________ dated __________ for __________ on __________, from __________, payable to the Payee, and handed it over __________. __________

1. Presentation. The Payee presented the cheque for payment on __________ through __________. That was within three months of the date the cheque bears, and so within its period of validity.

1. The return. The bank on which the cheque is drawn returned it unpaid under a return memo dated __________. __________ A return for that reason is a dishonour within section 138 of the Act. Want of funds and excess over the arrangement with the bank are named in the section itself, and the Supreme Court has held that returns marked account closed, payment stopped, refer to drawer, signatures do not match or image not found are dishonour within it (Laxmi Dyechem, (2012) 13 SCC 375, para 15).

1. When the Payee learnt of it. The Payee received the returned cheque and the memo on __________. This notice is sent within thirty days of that day.

1. Demand. The Payee demands that you pay the amount of the cheque, __________, within fifteen days of the day you receive this notice. Pay it by transfer to __________, or by a demand draft payable to the Payee delivered to the address above, and tell the Payee in writing on the day you pay.

1. If you do not pay. If the cheque amount is not paid within those fifteen days, the offence under section 138 of the Act is made out, and the Payee will file a complaint against you before the court of the Magistrate having jurisdiction. The section punishes the offence with imprisonment for up to two years, or a fine of up to twice the amount of the cheque, or both.

1. Other sums. The demand in paragraph 6 is for the cheque amount and nothing more. Payment of the cheque amount within the fifteen days answers this notice; it does not settle any other sum still due on the debt described in paragraph 1.

1. Your answer. If you say that nothing was due, that the cheque was not given for that debt, or that you have already paid, write to the Payee at the address above within the same fifteen days, with your reasons and copies of the papers you rely on.

1. Records. The Payee holds the original cheque, the return memo, the deposit record and the proof of sending and delivery of this notice, and will produce them to the court if a complaint is filed. Nothing in this notice gives up any other right of the Payee against you.

LEGAL BASIS

Punjab: Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 makes it an offence, punishable with imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to twice the cheque amount, or both, when a cheque drawn on the drawer's own account to discharge a legally enforceable debt or other liability is returned unpaid because the balance is insufficient or exceeds the arrangement with the bank. Its proviso sets the order of events: presentation within six months of the cheque's date or within its validity, whichever is earlier, and under RBI's circular of 4 November 2011 no bank has paid a cheque presented more than three months after its date since 1 April 2012; a written demand within 30 days of the payee's receiving the bank's information of the return; and the drawer's failure to pay within 15 days of receiving the demand. Returns marked account closed, payment stopped, refer to drawer, signatures do not match or image not found are dishonour within the section (Laxmi Dyechem, (2012) 13 SCC 375, para 15). Where the drawer is a company, a complaint against a director other than a managing or joint managing director must show how that director was in charge of, or responsible for, its affairs (section 141; Susela Padmavathy Amma v. Bharti Airtel Ltd, 2024 INSC 206). No fee is payable on the notice. If the demand is not met, the complaint is presented to the Magistrate having jurisdiction, whose court decides it, and the Magistrate's judgment can be challenged before the Sessions Court, which may order a convicted drawer to deposit at least 20% of the fine or compensation under section 148, and in revision before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A claim for interest or any other sum apart from the cheque amount goes to the civil court having jurisdiction, and an appeal from its decree goes to the District Judge, or to the Punjab and Haryana High Court where the value of the claim takes it there.

Chandigarh: The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 is central law and applies in the Union Territory in the same terms. The offence under section 138, the three-month validity of a cheque under RBI's circular of 4 November 2011, the 30-day period for the demand and the 15-day period for payment, the reading of the return reasons in Laxmi Dyechem, (2012) 13 SCC 375, and the rule for directors of a company drawer under section 141 all govern a cheque dishonoured here. No fee is payable on the notice. An unpaid demand leads to a complaint before the Magistrate having jurisdiction in the Union Territory, whose court decides it, and the judgment can be challenged before the Sessions Court, where section 148 allows a deposit of at least 20% of the fine or compensation to be ordered on a convicted drawer's challenge, and in revision before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A claim for interest or any other sum apart from the cheque amount goes to the civil court at Chandigarh, and an appeal from its decree goes to the District Judge, Chandigarh, or to the Punjab and Haryana High Court where the value of the claim takes it there.

PERSONAL DATA NOTICE

This notice is given under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

The purpose of collecting the personal data in this notice is to identify the payee and the drawer, record the cheque, its return and the dates on which the demand rests, and let the cheque amount be paid, or a complaint be filed if it is not.

The record will be held by __________ and may be shared with the payee, the drawer and any officer to whom the notice is addressed, their advocates, the banks that handled the cheque, and any court in which a complaint on the cheque is filed.

If the matter does not proceed, the personal data will be retained for 90 days and then erased. If the matter proceeds, the record will be retained for the transaction or authority matter plus 12 months, except where a statute requires a longer named retention period.

A person named in this document may request correction or erasure where the purpose has ended, withdraw consent for future consent-based processing, or raise a grievance by writing to __________. The record-holder should acknowledge and reply within 30 days.

Data minimisation: this document does not collect a full Aadhaar number, an Aadhaar-card copy, a password or bank credentials.

Personal-data instruction: __________.

SIGNATURE

Payee, or the advocate sending the notice on the Payee's instructions: __________