Cheque Dishonour Law in Bangladesh
When a cheque is dishonored?
If there are insufficient funds or money as a bank, it means less than the amount mentioned in the cheque, if the person who issued the cheque does not match his signature, if the amount and words mentioned in the cheque do not match, if the cheque expires A bank cheque may be dishonored if the cheque is scratched, the cheque is tampered with and it is not attested with full signature.
In addition, Cheques may be dishonoured for various other reasons which include-
- difference of amount in figure and word,
- stale cheque
- undated/post-dated cheque,
- drawer’s signature differs/ missing,
- payment stopped by drawer,
- forged endorsement
- account closed/dormant/blocked
- cheque not activated/intimation not received
- missing corporate stamp
- forged or unauthorized signature
Bangladesh has a law called the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, which deals with several remedies and discussions on cheque dishonor.
Firstly, Section 138 of the NI Act makes it clear that whenever a cheque is bounced then prima facie an illegal offence is created which entails punishment of criminal nature which may include 1 year imprisonment or fine which may extend to three times the value of the dishonoured cheque or both. Moreover, the person aggrieved also have a civil remedy under the same section, and to achieve the civil remedy the person needs to fulfil some procedures.
Under Section 137, a cheque rejection case usually has to be filed in court, not in the police station.
This is what we call a CR case or a complaint register case. Keep in mind that if you want to file a cheque dis-honor, you must have a limitation, otherwise, it will be difficult to file a case.
The cheque has to be deposited in the bank for cashing within six months of receiving the cheque from someone or before it expires.
Within thirty days of the day the bank rejects your cheque, it must give the cheque legal notice of the cheque dishonor through the lawyer along with the cheque dishonor slip.
Registered post must send the legal notice to the last address or business address of the issuer of the cheque, along with the receipt.
Once all these works are done, a case has to be filed in the court stating the exact date, cheque number, name, and other necessary matters, and copy proof of everything.
