Lok Sabha passes Negotiable Instuments (Amendment) Bill

NEW DELHI: NDA government today faced tough questions in Lok Sabha from its own members over a bill, which aims at making filing of cases more convenient for payees in cheque-bounce matters, with some BJP members wondering if it would be used by corporates to harass the common man.

The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill 2015 was later passed by a voice vote, with Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha insisting that it would boost the "integrity of financial system" and not lead to the harassment of the common man.

The bill was necessitated due to an "impractical" Supreme Court order that cases against those having defaulted on their cheque payments could only be filed in courts under which jurisdiction the bank account of the accused fell, he said.

Pitching for the legislation, Sinha said the courts were currently dealing with 21 lakh cheque-bounce cases with 259 courts hearing them exclusively and the new law would help consolidate the cases and aid the judicial system.

"To address the difficulties faced by the payee or the lender of the money in filing the case under Section 138 (of the Act), because of which large number of cases are stuck, the jurisdiction for offence has been clearly defined keeping in view the interest of complainants," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said on a week ago while introducing the bill.

S S Ahluwalia, P P Choudhary and R K Singh (all BJP) expressed apprehension that the new legislation could be used by corporates to file cases against their clients in far-off places.

"It will add to the harassment of the common man," Singh said.

The Minister said chances of such harassment were very rare. "We need this law to strengthen the financial system. It will beef up the integrity of the system. We are moving towards a cashless society and we need this," he said.