The Parliament on Thursday passed a Bill to assist courts in speedy prosecution of cheque bounces. According to the Bill, the drawee pays a minimum 20% of the cheque amount as interim compensation to the complainant.
The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill 2018 was passed in Lok Sabha on July 23. It was then passed in Rajya Sabha by means of voice vote. Cheque bounce offences comes under Section 138 and under this, Section 143A and Section 148 will be included as latest amendments.
If the drawee pleads not guilty of accusation he has to pay a minimum of 20% as interim charges within 60 days of the Trial Court’s order. But if he appeals and the case goes to High Court then he must pay an additional 20% as compensation. However if the drawee is acquainted then the court will direct the payee to repay the interim compensation with interest.
Number of cases registered
Minister of State for Finance, Shiv Pratap Shukla pointed out that over 16 lakh cases of cheque bounces were present in subordinate courts and 34,000 of such cases were appealed in High Court. ‘We have brought the amendments to ensure that people have trust and faith on issuing cheques,” the Minister said.
Opposition’s reaction
Following this, Congress said that tougher punishments must be imposed to avoid cheque bounces. Citing the example of France and UAE, Congress suggested that if an issuer defaults on cheque payments then he or she must be prohibited from issuing cheques for 5 years.
Ramachandra Prasad Singh (JD-U) suggested that the compensation amount must be 50% and raised to 75% of the cheque amount after appeal.
Binoy Viswam (CPI-M) said ‘The bill has presumption that drawee is wrong and payee is right, which is not good. In some cases payee are also culprit’.