Tis Hazari Courts Complex · Central Delhi
Cheque Bounce Lawyer at Tis Hazari Court
Complaints and defences under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act before the Magistrates at Tis Hazari, from the demand notice through summary trial to recovery.
In short
A cheque bounce case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 runs on three deadlines, and missing any one of them ends the case. The cheque must be presented to the bank within its validity period, which is three months from the date written on it. Once it is returned unpaid, the payee has thirty days to send a written demand notice to the drawer. The drawer then has fifteen days to pay. If they do not, the payee has thirty days from the end of that fifteen-day period — and no longer — to file a complaint before the Magistrate. At Tis Hazari the complaint is filed where the payee's own bank branch is situated, and the offence carries imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine of up to twice the cheque amount, or both.
What Section 138 actually makes an offence
A bounced cheque is not by itself a crime. Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 criminalises a narrower thing: failing to pay after being formally asked to, once your cheque has been returned unpaid.
The offence is complete only when every one of these is true:
- A cheque was drawn on the drawer’s own account.
- It was issued to discharge a legally enforceable debt or liability — not as a gift, and not as security for something that never became due.
- It was presented to the bank within its validity period.
- It was returned unpaid for insufficiency of funds, or because it exceeded the arrangement with the bank.
- The payee sent a written demand notice within 30 days of the return.
- The drawer failed to pay within 15 days of receiving that notice.
Break any link and there is no offence. This matters more than it sounds: Section 138 complaints are lost on the mechanics far more often than on any dispute about whether the money is owed.
The three deadlines, and the arithmetic
| Step | Time allowed | Runs from |
|---|---|---|
| Present the cheque | 3 months | The date written on the cheque |
| Send the demand notice | 30 days | The date of the bank’s return memo |
| Drawer’s time to pay | 15 days | Receipt of the notice |
| File the complaint | 30 days | Expiry of the 15-day period |
Two points on this table are worth pressing.
Cheque validity is three months, not six. The Reserve Bank of India reduced it from six months to three with effect from 1 April 2012. A great deal of material still online repeats the old figure. A cheque presented in the fourth month is returned as stale, and a stale return will not support a complaint.
The thirty-day filing window opens, and closes. It does not begin when the cheque bounces. It begins on the day the drawer’s fifteen days run out — and it shuts thirty days later. A complaint filed on day thirty-one needs the court to condone the delay for sufficient cause, which is not lightly given.
Where the complaint is filed, and why Tis Hazari
Before 2015 there was persistent argument about which court could hear a Section 138 complaint, and drawers were routinely summoned to courts hundreds of kilometres from where they lived. The 2015 amendment to Section 142 settled it: the complaint lies where the branch of the payee’s bank at which the cheque was delivered for collection is situated.
For practical purposes, the question is where you banked the cheque. If the collecting branch is in Central, North or West Delhi — Karol Bagh, Paharganj, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Civil Lines, Model Town, Punjabi Bagh, Rajouri Garden and the surrounding areas — the complaint belongs before a Magistrate at the Tis Hazari Courts Complex. Where the drawer lives, and where the cheque was signed, do not determine the forum.
If all cheques from one transaction are banked at the same branch, they are all triable together in that one court.
Filing the complaint, step by step
- Compute the dates. Dishonour, notice, despatch, service, expiry. If the complaint is out of time this is where it is discovered, not after filing.
- Draft the complaint. It must plead the transaction giving rise to the liability, the issue of the cheque, its presentation and dishonour, the notice and its service, and the failure to pay.
- File it with the documents. The original cheque, the original return memo, the notice, proof of despatch and service, and the papers proving the underlying transaction.
- Sworn statement of the complainant. The Magistrate records the complainant’s evidence before deciding whether to summon the accused.
- Summons. If satisfied, the Magistrate issues process against the drawer.
- Appearance and plea. The drawer appears, is furnished with the papers and states their defence.
- Trial. Tried summarily under Section 143. The complainant’s evidence may go in by affidavit; the drawer is examined and may lead evidence.
- Judgment. Acquittal, or conviction with sentence and compensation.
The presumption, and what it does to a defence
Section 139 provides that once the drawer admits the signature and the cheque, the court presumes it was issued for the discharge of a debt or liability. The payee does not have to prove the debt first; the drawer has to displace the presumption.
It is rebuttable, not conclusive. A drawer can meet it by establishing, on the balance of probabilities, that no enforceable liability existed — that the cheque was security for a loan never advanced, that the debt was already discharged, or that a blank cheque was completed without authority. What will not work is a bare denial from the witness box. Courts look for something contemporaneous: bank statements, ledgers, correspondence, or the absence of any record of the transaction the payee describes.
For a payee, the practical lesson is to plead the underlying transaction properly and prove it, rather than resting on the presumption alone. For a drawer, it is that the defence has to be built from documents, and built early.
Defending a Section 138 complaint
The defences that work are narrow and mostly factual:
- No legally enforceable debt. The strongest defence where it exists. A cheque given as a gift, or against a liability that never arose, is outside the section.
- Limitation. Late presentation, late notice, or a late complaint. Always worth computing independently rather than accepting the complaint’s arithmetic.
- Defective notice. A notice that fails to demand the cheque amount clearly, or demands a consolidated sum including interest and damages, is vulnerable.
- No proper service. Sent to a wrong or stale address, or with no provable despatch.
- Security cheque completed without authority. Common in loan and property transactions, and provable where the surrounding papers support it.
- Payment already made. Within the fifteen days, which ends the matter outright; or afterwards, which goes to compounding and to sentence.
What is not a defence: that the drawer was short of funds, that the payee was also in breach of the underlying contract, or that the cheque was post-dated.
Interim compensation, and getting paid
A complaint that ends in conviction but recovers nothing has not achieved much. Two provisions inserted in 2018 changed the balance:
Section 143A lets the trial court direct the drawer to pay the complainant up to twenty per cent of the cheque amount as interim compensation, while the trial is still running. It is discretionary, and it should be applied for early — it is the most effective answer to a drawer contesting a plain matter purely to defer payment. If the drawer is acquitted, the money is returned with interest.
Section 148 lets an appellate court require a convicted drawer to deposit at least twenty per cent of the fine or compensation before their appeal is heard, which removes much of the value of an appeal filed only for delay.
On conviction, courts frequently award compensation exceeding the face value of the cheque, to account for the years the payee has been kept out of the money.
Settlement, compounding and when to take the offer
The offence is compoundable. If the parties agree, the court may permit compounding at any stage and the proceedings end. A large proportion of Section 138 matters conclude this way, and the courts encourage it — though a settlement arrived at very late in the day may carry costs.
The judgement call for a payee is not whether the case is good. It is whether a sum offered now is better than a larger sum after two more years, an appeal, and execution. Where the drawer’s ability to pay is doubtful, an immediate part payment is often worth more than a decree that has to be enforced against someone with nothing to attach.
For a drawer, the calculation runs the other way: paying during the fifteen-day notice period costs the cheque amount and nothing else. Paying after conviction costs the cheque amount, compensation set above it, costs, and a criminal conviction on the record. The cheapest moment to settle is the earliest one.
What a matter at Tis Hazari actually involves
Expect a number of short dates. Section 138 matters are listed frequently, and many listings are procedural — service, appearance, a step in evidence. The statutory target of concluding within six months is rarely met; one to three years is the realistic range for a contested matter, and the largest single variable is whether the drawer appears when first summoned or has to be brought through repeated process.
Where a client lives outside Delhi or cannot attend routine dates, exemption from personal appearance can be sought in the circumstances the law allows, so that attendance is reserved for the dates that matter.
Why instruct this chamber
Acting for you at Tis Hazari Court
The deadlines are treated as the case
Most Section 138 complaints that fail, fail on limitation rather than on merits. Dates of dishonour, notice, service and expiry are computed and recorded at the first meeting, before anything else is discussed.
Both sides of the docket
The chamber files complaints for payees and defends drawers. Having argued the defences, we know which ones a Magistrate at Tis Hazari engages with and which are noise.
Notice drafted to survive the trial
The demand notice is the document the defence attacks first. It is drafted to state the amount and the demand precisely, and despatched by a mode that can be proved years later.
Recovery treated as the objective
A conviction that recovers nothing is a poor result. Interim compensation under Section 143A and compensation on conviction are pursued from the outset, not raised as an afterthought.
Realistic advice about settling
A large share of these matters end in a negotiated payment. You will be told when a settlement on offer is better than the judgment you are likely to get, including when that advice shortens the engagement.
Appearance managed for out-of-town parties
Section 138 matters involve many short dates. Where the law permits, we seek exemption from personal appearance so that a client is not travelling to Tis Hazari for a two-minute listing.
One advocate, from notice to decree
Advocate Kanisth Manuja settles the notice and the complaint, conducts the evidence and argues the matter. The file does not change hands midway.
Common questions
Cheque Bounce questions — Tis Hazari Court
What should I do first when a cheque given to me bounces?
Collect the bank's return memo and check the date on it, because every deadline in the case runs from that date. Then send a written demand notice to the drawer within thirty days, calling on them to pay the cheque amount within fifteen days. Do not wait to see whether they pay on their own, and do not rely on a phone call or a message — the statutory notice must be in writing and must be capable of being proved. Once the fifteen days lapse without payment, you have thirty days to file the complaint.
What is the time limit for filing a cheque bounce case?
Thirty days, running from the day the drawer's fifteen-day payment period expires. That is the outer limit and it is strict. Working backwards, the cheque must have been presented within three months of its date, and the demand notice must have gone out within thirty days of the bank's return memo. A complaint filed after the thirty-day window can only be entertained if the Magistrate is satisfied there was sufficient cause for the delay, and that is not readily granted.
How long is a cheque valid for presentation?
Three months from the date written on the cheque. This changed in 2012, when the Reserve Bank of India reduced cheque validity from six months to three; material still circulates online quoting the older six-month figure, and relying on it will cost you the case. A cheque presented after three months is returned as stale, and a stale-cheque return does not found a complaint under Section 138.
Which court at Tis Hazari will hear my cheque bounce case?
A Judicial Magistrate at the Tis Hazari Courts Complex, where the complaint falls within its jurisdiction. Since the 2015 amendment to Section 142 of the Act, the case is filed where the branch of the payee's bank — the branch at which the cheque was delivered for collection — is situated. So if you deposited the cheque at your bank branch in Karol Bagh, Civil Lines or Punjabi Bagh, the complaint belongs at Tis Hazari, regardless of where the drawer lives or where the cheque was signed.
What is the punishment for a bounced cheque?
Imprisonment for up to two years, or a fine of up to twice the cheque amount, or both. In practice courts more often impose a fine or compensation directed to the payee than a custodial sentence, particularly for a first offence where the amount is eventually paid. The offence is compoundable, so a settlement between the parties can bring the proceedings to an end at any stage with the court's permission.
What must the demand notice contain?
It must identify the cheque by number, date and amount, state that it was returned unpaid and on what ground, and make a clear demand for payment of the cheque amount within fifteen days of receipt. The demand must be for the cheque amount itself; a notice that lumps the cheque together with interest, damages and costs in one undifferentiated figure is a standard line of attack for the defence. Send it by registered post or speed post with acknowledgement due, and keep the postal receipt and the tracking record.
What if the drawer refuses to accept the notice or it comes back undelivered?
Refusal is not a defence. Where a notice is correctly addressed to the drawer's known address and is returned refused or unclaimed, service is ordinarily taken to have been effected, and the fifteen-day period runs from the date of that return. What matters is that you can prove correct addressing and proper despatch, which is why the postal receipt, the tracking record and the returned envelope should all be preserved unopened.
Can I file a case if the cheque bounced for a reason other than insufficient funds?
Often yes. Section 138 covers a cheque returned unpaid because the funds are insufficient, and also where the amount exceeds the arrangement with the bank. Courts have treated returns such as "payment stopped by drawer" and "account closed" as falling within the section, since a drawer cannot escape liability by an act of their own after issuing the cheque. Returns for a genuinely technical reason — a signature that does not match, a date written wrongly, a material alteration — stand differently and turn on the facts.
What defences can a drawer raise?
The recognised defences are that the cheque was not issued to discharge any legally enforceable debt or liability; that the deadlines were missed, in presentation, notice or filing; that the notice was defective or was never properly despatched; that the cheque was a blank security cheque later filled in without authority; or that the debt was already paid. Section 139 raises a presumption in the payee's favour once the cheque and signature are admitted, so the drawer carries the burden of displacing it — but it is a rebuttable presumption, not a conclusive one.
What is interim compensation under Section 143A?
Section 143A allows the court to direct the drawer to pay the complainant interim compensation of up to twenty per cent of the cheque amount while the trial is still going on. It is discretionary rather than automatic, and it is the main answer to a drawer who contests a straightforward matter simply to delay payment. If the drawer is eventually acquitted, the amount is repayable with interest. A parallel provision, Section 148, lets an appellate court require a convicted drawer to deposit at least twenty per cent before the appeal is heard.
How long does a cheque bounce case take at Tis Hazari?
Section 143 of the Act directs that these complaints be tried summarily and concluded within six months, but that is a target rather than the working reality, and a contested matter commonly runs one to three years. The main variables are whether the drawer appears when summoned or has to be secured through repeated process, whether the defence leads evidence, and how heavily the court's board is loaded. Matters that settle end considerably sooner.
Can the drawer end the case by paying after it is filed?
Payment within the fifteen-day notice period ends the matter, because no offence is then complete. Payment after that does not automatically end proceedings, but the offence is compoundable: if the parties settle, the court may permit compounding and the case is closed. Courts generally encourage this, though a settlement reached very late may attract costs. What payment cannot do is undo an offence that was already complete when the fifteen days ran out.
Do I need the original cheque and return memo?
Yes. The original cheque and the original bank return memo are the primary evidence and are ordinarily filed with the complaint. You will also need the copy of the demand notice, the postal receipt and tracking record, the acknowledgement or the returned envelope, and whatever establishes the underlying transaction — an invoice, agreement, ledger entry or account statement. Photocopies alone leave the complaint open to challenge.
Can I recover interest and costs as well as the cheque amount?
Yes, though not through the demand notice, which must demand the cheque amount alone. On conviction the court can order compensation, and in practice that is often fixed at more than the face value of the cheque to account for the delay in payment. Interim compensation under Section 143A can be obtained while the trial runs. A separate civil suit for recovery is also open, and the two proceedings can run alongside each other.
Is a cheque bounce a criminal or a civil matter?
It is a criminal proceeding heard by a Magistrate, though it is really a recovery mechanism given criminal teeth. The complaint is filed under the criminal process, the drawer is summoned as an accused, and conviction can carry imprisonment. But the offence is compoundable, is tried summarily, and in most cases resolves in payment rather than a sentence. A civil suit for recovery of the same money is a separate remedy and is not barred by the Section 138 complaint.
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- 9953708111
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- Chamber No. B-25, 1st Floor, No. 3 BSG Block, Near Gate, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi – 110054
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