Cheque-bounce demand notice: format, what it must say, how to send it

What this notice is

When a cheque you were given comes back unpaid, the law gives you one step to take before you can go to court: a demand notice. It is a letter to the person who signed the cheque — the drawer — asking for the money. The person the cheque was made out to is the payee.

The rule is in Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. A criminal case for a bounced cheque can be brought only if three things happen in order:

1. You send the drawer a notice in writing, demanding payment of the cheque amount.
2. You send it within 30 days of receiving information from the bank that the cheque was returned unpaid. For most people that is the date of the bank's return memo, the slip that says why the cheque was not paid.
3. The drawer does not pay within 15 days of receiving the notice.

So the notice is not a formality. If it is late, missing, or demands the wrong amount, the criminal case can fail before it starts. For the full first-week plan, see Cheque bounced? What to do in the first 7 days.

What the notice must say

The Act does not prescribe a form. It asks for a written demand for the cheque amount. In practice, a notice that holds up states these facts plainly:

• Who is writing and to whom. Your full name and address, and the drawer's full name and address, as on the cheque and as you know them.
• Why the cheque was given. The debt or liability it was meant to pay: a loan, rent, the price of goods, salary, a settlement. Section 138 covers a cheque given for a legally enforceable debt or liability, so say what that was, with dates.
• The cheque itself. Number, date, amount in figures and words, the drawer's bank and branch.
• What happened at the bank. The date you deposited it, the date it came back, and the reason written on the return memo, in the memo's own words.
• The demand. A clear demand to pay the cheque amount within 15 days of receiving the notice.
• What follows if they do not pay. That you will file a complaint under Section 138 before the magistrate.
• Date and signature. Your signature, or your advocate's on your behalf.

Keep it short. One or two pages is normal. The notice is evidence; anything in it that is wrong or exaggerated can be used against you later.

A sample notice

This sample shows the shape. Replace everything in square brackets. Do not copy it unchanged — the facts of your cheque and the debt behind it are what make it work.

By registered post / speed post with acknowledgement due

Date: [date]

To,
[Drawer's full name]
[Drawer's full address]

Subject: Demand notice under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 for dishonour of cheque no. [number]

1. I, [your full name], resident of [your address], write to you about cheque no. [number] dated [date] for Rs. [amount] ([amount in words]), drawn by you on [bank name], [branch], in my favour.

2. You gave me this cheque on [date] to pay [describe the debt: for example, the loan of Rs. [amount] I gave you on [date], or the price of goods supplied under invoice no. [number] dated [date]].

3. I presented the cheque through my account with [your bank], [branch] on [date]. It was returned unpaid with the bank's memo dated [date], giving the reason "[reason exactly as on the memo]". I received the memo on [date].

4. I therefore call on you to pay me the amount of the cheque, Rs. [amount], within 15 days of receiving this notice, by [bank transfer to account no. ... / demand draft / any mode you choose].

5. If you do not pay within those 15 days, I will file a complaint against you under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 before the competent magistrate, at your risk as to costs.

[Signature]
[Your full name]

How to send it

Registered post or speed post with acknowledgement due, to every address you have for the drawer. Keep:

• the postal receipt,
• the tracking printout showing the delivery date, and
• the acknowledgement card when it comes back, or the envelope if it is returned.

The delivery date matters: the drawer's 15 days run from the day they receive the notice, and your one month to file a complaint runs after that. The cheque-bounce deadline calculator works out each date for you.

If the drawer refuses the letter, or it comes back "unclaimed", keep the envelope sealed. A notice sent to the correct address by registered post is generally treated as served.

You can send a copy by email or WhatsApp as well, but never instead.

If the cheque was given by a company or firm

Address the notice to the company or firm. Under Section 141, the people who were in charge of and responsible for its business when the offence was committed are liable along with it, and so is any director, manager or officer whose consent, connivance or neglect led to it. For a firm, the partners count as directors. It is common to send the notice to them as well. An advocate can tell you whom to name.

Papers to keep with your copy of the notice

• The original cheque. Do not write on it or hand it over.
• The bank's return memo. Under Section 146, the court presumes the cheque was dishonoured when it sees the bank's memo with its official mark.
• Whatever shows the debt: an agreement, invoices, bank transfers, messages.
• A signed copy of the notice, the postal receipt, the tracking record, and the acknowledgement card or returned envelope.

Mistakes that sink the notice

• Sending it after 30 days. Count from the day you received the bank's information, not from the date on the cheque.
• Demanding the wrong amount. The demand must be for the cheque amount. Do not fold other sums into it so that the cheque amount is lost.
• Giving fewer than 15 days, or counting the 15 days from the date you posted it rather than the date the drawer receives it.
• The wrong address, or ordinary post. Without proof of sending and delivery, the notice is hard to prove.
• Getting the cheque details wrong. Check the number, date, amount and bank against the cheque itself.

What happens next

If the drawer pays the full cheque amount within the 15 days, the matter ends. If not, the offence is complete, and under Section 142 you have one month to file a complaint before a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class. That is court work for an advocate: see Cheque-bounce complaint before the magistrate.

If you are the one who received a notice, see Reply to cheque-bounce notice.

eMunshi's cheque-bounce demand notice is drafted from your answers, checked and sealed by a panel advocate, and sent by registered post with tracking: ₹999, all-inclusive.