Cheque bounced? We draft the Section 138 notice inside your 30-day window.
A cheque bounce legal notice is a written demand. The person who was paid by cheque sends it to the person who issued the cheque, asks for the cheque amount, and gives them 15 days to pay. Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 makes the notice a condition of the offence. Without a valid one there is no section 138 offence to complain about. The rest of this page gives the limits that run after a cheque bounces, what the notice must say, how to prove it reached the drawer, and a skeleton you can fill from your own papers.
Key takeaway
Three limits run one after the other. Send the notice within 30 days of the bank telling you the cheque came back unpaid. The drawer then has 15 days from receiving it to pay. If they do not, file the complaint within one month of the day those 15 days end. The notice must demand the exact amount written on the cheque.
Who sends the notice, and to whom
The payee sends it. If the cheque was endorsed to someone else, the holder in due course sends it. The notice goes to the drawer, the person on whose account the cheque was drawn. Section 138 asks for 'a notice in writing' and does not say who must write it. The notice in C.C. Alavi Haji v. Palapetty Muhammed (Supreme Court, 2007) was a lawyer's notice, and the Court held the requirement met. The Act does not require a lawyer, so a payee can also send it under their own signature.
Which bounced cheques the section covers
The section names two reasons for return: the balance in the account is insufficient to honour the cheque, or the cheque exceeds the amount arranged with the bank. The Supreme Court has read it more widely. A cheque returned as account closed is covered (NEPC Micon v. Magma Leasing, 1999). So are payment stopped by the drawer, referred to drawer, signatures do not match and image not found (Laxmi Dyechem v. State of Gujarat, 2012, paragraphs 15 and 16). If your return memo gives any other wording, these judgments do not settle it, and the memo needs a closer look before the notice goes out.
This article is general information, not legal advice. If you need advice for your specific situation, contact BuildWright directly.
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Two conditions come before the notice. The cheque must have been presented to the bank within six months of its date or within its validity, whichever is earlier. Since 1 April 2012 banks do not pay a cheque presented more than three months after its date (RBI circular of 4 November 2011), so three months is the working limit. The cheque must also have been given to discharge a legally enforceable debt or other liability, which is the Explanation to section 138.
The limits, with a worked example
Step
Limit
Where it comes from
Present the cheque
Within three months of the date on the cheque
Section 138 proviso (a); RBI circular of 4 November 2011
Send the notice
Within 30 days of receiving the bank's information that the cheque was returned unpaid
Section 138 proviso (b)
Drawer pays
Within 15 days of receiving the notice
Section 138 proviso (c)
File the complaint
Within one month of the day the cause of action arises, which is after the 15 days end. A court may admit a later complaint for sufficient cause
Section 142(1)(b) and its proviso
Take a cheque dated 1 March 2026 that the bank returns on 18 March 2026. The 30 days to send the notice end on 17 April 2026. Say the drawer receives your notice on 14 April. Their 15 days end on 29 April, and the complaint is due by 30 May 2026. File before the last day, because the Act counts the month from the day the cause of action arises and a day of margin costs you nothing.
Count the 30 days from the first time the bank told you. The Act says 'receipt of information' and names no form, so the return memo, an SMS and an entry on your statement are all candidates. Counting from the earliest keeps you safe on any reading. The drawer's 15 days run from the day they receive the notice, so the delivery date matters as much as the posting date. Our free cheque bounce timer works out the three dates from your cheque date and the memo date, and the notice timeline page explains the count.
What the notice has to say
The Act asks three things of the notice. It is in writing. It is given to the drawer within the 30 days. It demands payment of 'the said amount of money', which the Supreme Court has held means the cheque amount. Everything else in a good notice is there so a court can see that those three things happened.
The amount is where notices fail. In Kaveri Plastics v. Mahdoom Bawa Bahrudeen Noorul (Supreme Court, 19 September 2025) the notice described the cheque correctly but demanded double its amount. The payee called it a typing error. The Court held the notice invalid, said the demand has to be the very amount of the cheque, said even a typographical error is fatal, and upheld the order quashing the complaint. Once the cheque amount is stated as the demand, the notice can add interest, legal charges or notice charges, provided they are set out separately (paragraph 8). Check the figure against the cheque itself, digit by digit, before the notice goes out.
A skeleton for the notice
This is a structure and the facts each part needs. It is not a drafted notice. Fill each part from your papers, and check every figure and date against the cheque and the return memo.
Part
What it holds
Where the fact comes from
Date and mode
The date of the notice and how it is sent, for example registered post with acknowledgement due
Your dispatch receipt
From
The payee's full name and address. For a company, the company name and the person signing for it
The cheque and your records
To
The drawer's name and the address where the notice will be received. For a company, its registered office
The contract, the invoice or the cheque
Heading
Notice under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
None needed
The debt
What the cheque was given for, such as an invoice, loan or deposit, with its date and amount, described as a legally enforceable debt or other liability
Invoice, agreement, ledger
The cheque
Number, date, amount in figures and words, and the bank and branch it was drawn on
A copy of the cheque
Presentation and return
The date you presented the cheque, the date of the return memo, the reason as printed on it, and the date the bank first told you
Return memo, SMS, statement
The demand
A demand for payment of the cheque amount, repeated exactly, within 15 days of receiving the notice. Any interest or costs follow in a separate sentence
The cheque
The consequence
A statement that if the amount is not paid in 15 days you will file a complaint under section 138 read with section 142
None needed
Signature and enclosures
The signatory's name and role. Enclose copies of the cheque and the return memo
Your records
Quote the reason from the memo exactly as it reads. If the memo says funds insufficient, the notice says so. If it says payment stopped, the notice says that. The cheque bounce timer page also offers the filled notice as a pack: it builds the notice from your cheque details and refuses to build one when a date has already passed. The Section 138 notice service covers the same ground if you would rather hand over the papers.
Sending the notice and keeping proof
Send it by registered post, acknowledgement due, to the drawer's correct address, and email a copy as well. In C.C. Alavi Haji (three Judges, 2007) the Supreme Court held that a notice sent by registered post to the correct address meets the requirement of clause (b), and it is then for the drawer to show they never received it. Service was presumed even where the envelope came back marked refused, house locked or addressee not in station (paragraph 14). A drawer who claims the notice never reached them can still pay within 15 days of receiving the court summons with the complaint. One who does not pay by then cannot argue that the notice was not served (paragraph 17).
Keep a folder for the complaint. Since the Supreme Court's directions of 25 September 2025 in Sanjabij Tari v. Kishore S. Borcar, every section 138 complaint opens with a synopsis that asks for the date of the notice, the mode of service, the dispatch date and tracking number, the proof and date of delivery, and any reply. The same directions ask the complainant to give the drawer's email address and mobile or WhatsApp number, with an affidavit, when filing.
The postal receipt and tracking number
The acknowledgement card or tracking printout that shows the delivery date
The returned envelope, if it comes back
A copy of the notice exactly as sent
The cheque and the return memo
The drawer's email address and mobile or WhatsApp number, with a note of where you got them
After the notice: the complaint
If the drawer pays the cheque amount within the 15 days, the offence in section 138 does not arise. The notice exists to give them that chance (Alavi Haji, paragraph 16). If they do not pay, the payee files a complaint in writing within the one month. It is tried by a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class (section 142(1)(c)), at the court where the payee's bank branch sits when the cheque was delivered for collection through an account (section 142(2)(a)). The penalty in section 138 is imprisonment up to two years, a fine up to twice the cheque amount, or both.
Yes, after the exact cheque amount and set out separately. The Supreme Court accepted this in Suman Sethi v. Ajay K. Churiwal (2000) and repeated it in Kaveri Plastics (2025, paragraph 8). A notice that gives only a larger lump sum, or a different amount from the cheque, is invalid.
Note
Law and judgments checked against the sources below on 23 October 2026. Dates, cheque numbers and amounts come from your own papers, so check each one against the cheque and the return memo before the notice leaves your hands.