New Delhi, July 27 (KNN) The Parliament on Thursday passes the bill amending Negotiable Instruments Act , a bill which has a provision allowing a court trying an offence related to cheque bouncing to direct the drawer (person who writes the cheque) to pay interim compensation to the complainant.

With this the 1881 bill is amended which specifies penalties for bouncing of cheques, and other violations with respect to such negotiable instruments with the Rajya Sabha passing the law.

The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2018, mainly brings two new provisions to the Negotiable Instruments Act - Section 143A and Section 148.

The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on July 23. The Bill will become a law after President's assent.

Post amendment, the interim compensation may be paid under certain circumstances, including where the drawer pleads not guilty of the accusation, will not exceed 20 per cent of the cheque amount, and will have to be paid by the drawer within 60 days of the trial court's order to pay such compensation.

The Bill intends addressing the issue of undue delay in final resolution of cheque dishonour cases.

It said that the Bill will provide relief to the payees of dishonoured cheques who has to spend considerable time and resources in court proceedings to realise the value of the cheque.

The Bill specifies that if a drawer convicted in a cheque bouncing case files an appeal, the appellate court may direct him to deposit a minimum of 20 per cent of the fine or compensation awarded by the trial court during conviction. This amount will be in addition to any interim compensation paid by the drawer during the earlier trial proceedings.

In case, the drawer is acquitted (during trial or by the appellate court), the court will direct the complainant to return the interim compensation (or deposit in case of an appeal case), along with an interest. This amount will be repaid within 60 days of the court's order.

Addressing the Rajya Sabha, MP Manish Gupta said, “The banks charge Rs.300 for every representation of any bounced cheque. So, there is a rate fixed. But the Reserve Bank needs to get more involved with this process. They have recently issued, as I said, new guidelines. These guidelines are unimaginative. The same guidelines have been recommended for many sectors across the board but each sector in the economy has its own problems just as the bounced cheque problem.”

Therefore this situation needs to be looked at more closely. Even application of Section 421 of the Cr.PC. is a very slow process of recovery of dues where fines have been imposed by the courts. Section 357 of the Cr.PC. is also there, the MP added.

Meanwhile, MP from Kerala, K Somaprasad, said about 18 lakh cheque bounce cases are pending in various courts.

“If the Government wants a speedy disposal of the cases, then it should strengthen the existing courts and open new courts. What is the present situation? A sizeable number of posts of Judicial Officers are lying vacant. The Government is not ready to recruit even Judicial Officers against the existing vacancies,” the MP said. (KNN Bureau)