Section 138 cheque notice

Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act deals with a cheque that is returned unpaid. Before a complaint can be filed, the payee has to send a written demand to the drawer. The notice has to demand the cheque amount, and the complaint has its own time limit after that notice. Those time limits are strict. The advocate must calculate them from the cheque, the bank memo and the date the notice is received.

What to have ready

• The cheque: number, date, amount and the bank it was drawn on.
• The return memo: the date and the reason the bank gave.
• The drawer's name and the address where the notice will be sent.
• Proof of the debt or liability the cheque was issued for, if you have it.

The draft

In casemate, choose the legal demand notice under Section 138. The draft sets out the cheque, the dishonour, the demand for payment, and the advocate's signature. It does not decide whether the notice is in time. You check that before it is posted.

After the notice, the same matter may need a complaint, an affidavit, and later a settlement or an appeal. Those document types are in the cheque-dishonour templates inside the app.

Open casemate to draft the notice. See also the general legal notice page and about casemate.