Missed the cheque bounce deadline: what happens to the payee and the drawer

Notice

Within 30 days of the return memo. No extension exists.

Complaint

Within one month after the drawer's 15 days end. Delay can be condoned for sufficient cause.

The drawer

Summons, appearance, bail bond. The offence is bailable; absence is what leads to a warrant.

Work the dates out

The Section 138 deadline calculator takes the return memo date and gives every window.

A cheque bounce case is the only criminal case in the Ghaziabad courts that is won or lost on a calendar. Three windows follow each other: three months to present the cheque, 30 days to send the notice, 15 days for the drawer to pay, then one month to file. The cheque bounce page sets the whole sequence out; this article is about what happens when one of the windows is missed, on either side.

The payee who sent the notice late

The notice must go within 30 days of the payee receiving information from the bank that the cheque was returned. The date on the return memo is normally the date the clock starts, and the court holds the complainant to it. There is no provision to extend this window. A notice sent on the thirty-first day does not support a complaint, however good the debt.

What remains is the cheque itself. If it is still within three months of the date written on it, it can be presented again. A second dishonour produces a second return memo and a fresh 30 days. A cheque older than three months cannot be presented for Section 138 purposes, but the debt behind it survives: a civil suit for recovery with interest, and where the loan or agreement is in writing, a summary suit under Order 37 of the Civil Procedure Code, which is decided without a full trial unless the drawer shows a real defence. The court fee calculator gives the fee on such a suit.

The payee who filed the complaint late

The cause of action arises when the 15 days given to the drawer end without payment. Section 142(1)(b) requires the complaint to be filed within one month of that day. The month is counted from the day after the fifteenth day, and the court looks at the date of receipt of the notice by the drawer, which is why the postal record matters as much as the notice.

This window, unlike the first, can be opened. The proviso to Section 142(1)(b) allows the court to take cognizance after the month if the complainant satisfies it that there was sufficient cause for the delay. The application is filed with the complaint, supported by an affidavit, and it explains the delay with dates: the illness, the negotiation the drawer was dragging out, the days lost to a wrong court. Courts in Ghaziabad treat the proviso as a real discretion, not a formality. An application that says only that the delay was inadvertent is refused; one that accounts for each week is usually allowed, and the drawer is heard on it.

Two errors cause most of the late filings seen at Chamber 817. The first is counting the one month from the date of the notice rather than from the end of the 15 days. The second is waiting for the drawer's promised payment past the window, on the strength of a phone call. A promise to pay is a reason to file and then compound, not a reason to wait.

Filing in the wrong court

Since the 2015 amendment to Section 142, the complaint is filed where the payee's bank branch is: the branch where the cheque was deposited for collection. A cheque deposited in a Ghaziabad branch is tried in Ghaziabad even if the drawer and his bank are in Delhi or Noida. A complaint filed in the wrong district is returned for presentation in the right one, and the time spent in the wrong court is one of the grounds on which condonation is sought. The court guide shows which Magistrate courts at RDC take these complaints.

The drawer who let the 15 days pass

Once the 15 days end without payment the offence is complete, and from the drawer's side the question changes from whether to pay to how the case will run. The sequence is predictable.

• Summons. The Magistrate reads the complaint and the complainant's affidavit and, if the papers are in order, issues summons. The summons comes by post and often by WhatsApp or email as well. It states a date of appearance.
• Appearance. Appear on that date, through counsel and in person. Section 138 is bailable, so the Magistrate takes a personal bond with or without a surety and the drawer goes home. Nothing about the first date requires arrest.
• What absence does. A drawer who ignores the summons faces bailable warrants, then non-bailable warrants, and finally proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender. Each step makes the case more expensive and removes the goodwill that a compromise needs. Most of the arrests in Section 138 cases in Ghaziabad are arrests for not appearing, not for the cheque.
• Plea and interim compensation. When the drawer pleads not guilty the complainant may ask for interim compensation under Section 143A, of up to 20% of the cheque amount. That order is the point at which many drawers decide to settle.

The door that stays open

Section 147 makes every offence under the Act compoundable, and the courts encourage settlement at every stage. A drawer who has missed the 15 days can still pay the cheque amount with agreed interest and costs, and the complainant can then compound the case; the Magistrate records it and the drawer is acquitted. The price of settling rises with each stage, because the guidelines on compounding allow the court to require a percentage of the cheque amount as costs when the settlement comes late. The earliest honest offer is the cheapest one.

What to do now

Whichever side you are on, fix the dates first. Bring the cheque, the return memo, the notice and the postal record, or the summons and the complaint, and the documents checklist lists the rest. The chamber tells you within the first meeting whether the window is open, can be opened, or is closed and the civil route is the one to take. The trial that follows a complaint in time is explained on the cheque bounce page.

Read next

• Received a cheque bounce notice in Ghaziabad: the 15-day reply
• Cheque bounce case timeline in the Ghaziabad court
• Section 143A interim compensation: the 20% order

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