Lok Sabha has passed the Negotiable Instruments (amendment) Bill, 2015. This act mainly provides for filing of cheque bounce cases, basically when it is presented for clearance at a place which is not the place of issue.
The Bill seeks to replace an ordinance which was re-promulgated earlier. The Bill will help small traders, large corporates especially telecom companies which are facing a large blockage of cheque bounce cases.
The objective is to ensure a fair trial in cheque bounce cases. This was the 14th Ordinance issued by the Narendra Modi government since it assumed office late last May.
The bill is passed by Lok sabha through Voice Note.
- The Bill has significant implications for the functioning of a market economy like India.
- It provides fair and transparent place of jurisdiction to both the complainant and the accused.
- All cheque-bounce cases can be filed only in a court within whose local jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee is situated.
A Negotiable Instrument means a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque payable either to order or to bearer. It is a document that guarantees the payment of a specified amount of money, either on demand, or at a specified period, with the payer named on the document.
- Example: A Cheque, promissory Notes.
About Negotiable Instrument (Amendment Bill),2015
- The bill was Inroduced in Lok Sabha on 6th May 2015.
- If a complaint against a person issuing a cheque has been filed in the court with the appropriate jurisdiction, then all subsequent complaints against that person will be filed in the same court, irrespective of the relevant jurisdiction area.
- If more than one case is filed against the same person before different courts, the case will be transferred to the court with the appropriate jurisdiction.
- The Bills also amends the definition of ‘cheque in the electronic form’.
- Under the Act, it was defined as a cheque containing the exact mirror image of a paper cheque and generated in a secure system using a digital signature.
- The definition has been amended to mean a cheque drawn in electronic medium using any computer resource and which is signed in a secure system with a digital signature, or electronic system.
