On 06.05.2015, the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha. The objective of the Bill is to amend the provisions of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, for speedy disposal of cases relating to dishonour of cheque and proposes following amendment:
- Substitutes Section 6, Explanation I, clause (a) with following clause:
(a) ‘‘a cheque in the electronic form” means a cheque drawn in electronic medium by using any computer resource and signed in a secure system with digital signature (with or without biometrics signature) and asymmetric cryptosystem or electronic signature, as the case may be
- Inserts Explanation III after Explanation II as “the expressions used in this section shall have the same meanings as assigned to those expressions in the Information Technology Act, 2000”
- Inserts Section 142 (2) which provides that the offence under Section 138 shall be inquired into and tried only by a court within whose local jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee, where the payee presents the cheque for payment, is situated
- Inserts a new Section 142 A, which provides that notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or any judgment, decree, order or directions of any court, all cases arising out of Section 138 which were pending in any court, whether filed before it, or transferred to it, before the commencement of the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2015, shall be transferred to the court having jurisdiction under sub-section (2) of section 142 as if that sub-section had been in force at all material times.
-Lok Sabha