Under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, present the cheque within its validity (three months), send a written demand notice within 30 days of learning of the dishonour, give the drawer 15 days from receipt to pay, and file the complaint within one month after those 15 days expire. A court can condone delay in filing for sufficient cause.
Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
Section 138 and provisoOffence of cheque dishonour; presentation, 30-day notice and 15-day payment windows.
Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
Section 142Complaint within one month of the cause of action; jurisdiction of the payee’s bank branch.
Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
Sections 139, 143A and 148Presumption in favour of the holder; interim compensation; deposit on appeal.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Complaint-case procedure (replacing CrPC from 1 July 2024)Governs procedure for complaints filed on or after 1 July 2024, read with the NI Act’s special provisions.
The cheque must be presented within six months of its date or within its period of validity, whichever is earlier. Since RBI reduced cheque validity in 2012, that is effectively three months. A cheque returned for “insufficient funds”, “exceeds arrangement” or similar reasons — including “account closed” or “payment stopped”, as courts have held — can found a Section 138 case.
Clause (b) of the proviso requires the payee to demand payment by a notice in writing within 30 days of receiving information of the dishonour from the bank. The notice should state the cheque details, the return reason and a clear demand for the cheque amount. Courts have accepted notices sent by registered post, courier and, in some High Courts, email or WhatsApp; keep proof of dispatch and delivery.
The drawer has 15 days from receipt of the notice to pay the cheque amount. If they pay within this window, no offence is made out. The cause of action arises only when the 15 days expire without payment — a complaint filed before that is premature.
Section 142(1)(b) requires the complaint to be filed within one month of the date the cause of action arises. Under Section 142(2), the competent court is generally the one where the payee’s bank branch is located, if the cheque was deposited through an account. Delay can be condoned on sufficient cause. The offence carries imprisonment up to two years, a fine up to twice the cheque amount, or both; courts may order interim compensation of up to 20% under Section 143A.
The payee must send the demand notice within 30 days of receiving the bank’s dishonour information, and the drawer then has 15 days from receipt of that notice to pay.
Under the proviso to Section 142(1)(b), the court may take cognisance after the deadline if the complainant shows sufficient cause for the delay. File a condonation application explaining it.
A cheque can be re-presented within its validity, and a fresh dishonour gives a fresh 30-day window for notice. But once a notice has been sent and the period lapses, a second notice on the same dishonour generally does not restart the clock.
Yes. The offence is compoundable under Section 147, and the Supreme Court has encouraged early settlement — including through guidelines it issued in Sanjabij Tari v. Kishore S. Borcar (September 2025).
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