(Image source from: Negotiable instrument bill passed in parliament})

The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed by a voice vote in the parliament. Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha insisted that it would boost the "integrity of the financial system" and not lead to the harassment of the common man. NDA government has faced tough questions in the Lok Sabha from its own members over a bill, which aims at making the filing of cases to be more convenient for payees in the cheque-bounce matters, some BJP members stated that it would be used by the corporates to harass the common man.

The bill was necessitated due to an "impractical" Supreme Court ordering that the cases against those having defaulted on their cheque payments can only be filed in the courts under which jurisdiction of the bank account of the accused falls, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said.

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

The act can be utilized by the lenders for harassing the defaulter by filling the case in the other corner of the country.

By Premji