MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE

(Legislative Department)

New Delhi, the 29th December, 2015/Pausha 8, 1937 (Saka)

The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 26th December, 2015, and is hereby published for general information:-

[26th December, 2015.]

Short title and commencement.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

1. (1) This Act may be called the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2015.

(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 15th day of June, 2015.

Amendment of section 6.

2. In the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (26 of 1881) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), in section 6,-

(i) in Explanation I, for clause (a), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

'(a) "a cheque in the electronic form" means a cheque drawn in electronic form by using any computer resource and signed in a secure system with digital signature (with or without biometrics signature) and asymmetric crypto system or with electronic signature, as the case may be;';

(ii) after Explanation II, the following Explanation shall be inserted, namely:-

'Explanation III.-For the purposes of this section, the expressions "asymmetric crypto system", "computer resource", "digital signature", "electronic form" and "electronic signature" shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Information Technology Act, 2000.'. (21 of 2000.)

Amendment of section 142.

3. In the principal Act, section 142 shall be numbered as sub-section (1) thereof and after sub-section (1) as so numbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-

"(2) The offence under section 138 shall be inquired into and tried only by a court within whose local jurisdiction,-

(a) if the cheque is delivered for collection through an account, the branch of the bank where the payee or holder in due course, as the case may be, maintains the account, is situated; or

(b) if the cheque is presented for payment by the payee or holder in due course, otherwise through an account, the branch of the drawee bank where the drawer maintains the account, is situated.

Explanation.- For the purposes of clause (a), where a cheque is delivered for collection at any branch of the bank of the payee or holder in due course, then, the cheque shall be deemed to have been delivered to the branch of the bank in which the payee or holder in due course, as the case may be, maintains the account.".

Insertion of new section 142A.

4. In the principal Act, after section 142, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-

Validation for transfer of pending cases.

"142A. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974.) or any judgment, decree, order or direction of any court, all cases transferred to the court having jurisdiction under sub-section (2) of section 142, as amended by the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, shall be deemed to have been transferred under this Act, as if that sub-section had been in force at all material times.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) of section 142 or sub-section (1), where the payee or the holder in due course, as the case may be, has filed a complaint against the drawer of a cheque in the court having jurisdiction under sub-section (2) of section 142 or the case has been transferred to that court under sub-section (1) and such complaint is pending in that court, all subsequent complaints arising out of section 138 against the same drawer shall be filed before the same court irrespective of whether those cheques were delivered for collection or presented for payment within the territorial jurisdiction of that court.

(3) If, on the date of the commencement of the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2015, more than one prosecution filed by the same payee or holder in due course, as the case may be, against the same drawer of cheques is pending before different courts, upon the said fact having been brought to the notice of the court, such court shall transfer the case to the court having jurisdiction under sub-section (2) of section 142, as amended by the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, (Ord. 7 of 2015) before which the first case was filed and is pending, as if that sub-section had been in force at all material times.

Repeal and savings.

5. (1) The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Second Ordinance, 2015, is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the principal Act, as amended by the said Ordinance, shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of the principal Act, as amended by this Act.

Jurisdiction for cheque dishonour offences narrowed to the bank branch where payee or drawer maintains the account, consolidating prosecutions. The Act recognises cheques in electronic form authenticated by digital or electronic signatures and adopts IT Act definitions. It clarifies territorial jurisdiction for offences under section 138, prescribing trial in courts where the payee's or drawee's bank branch maintaining the relevant account is situated. It validates transfer of pending cases to courts with such jurisdiction, requires subsequent complaints against the same drawer to be filed before the same court, and directs transfer to a single court where multiple prosecutions by the same payee against the same drawer are pending. The earlier Ordinance is repealed with savings.