NAME-ANKIT NANDE

ROLL NO-1783015
B.A.LL.B(A)
Q.1 Describe in detail the legal frame work of dishonour of cheque.

ANS- Whenever a cheque is drawn by a person in favor of another person and that cheque is
returned by the bank unpaid due to insufficiency of funds in the bank account of the drawer, the
cheque is said to be dishonored.

Kinds Of Dishonour Of Cheque

Dishonour By Non-Acceptance:

Section 19 of the Act talks about the dishonour by non- acceptance. Presentment for acceptance
is needed only in the case of a bill of exchange. Generally, acceptance and payment go together
and this commonly happens in case an instrument is payable after sight, thus it is often difficult
to differentiate the two because dishonour by non-payment is commonly dishonoured by non-
acceptance, so it is only this bill of exchange which can be dishonoured by non-acceptance and
not a cheque as in the case of a cheque, no acceptance is needed to be taken to the banker and
cheques are primarily instruments payable at sight.

Dishonour by Non Payment:

Dishonour by non-payment is the second type of dishonour. A negotiable instrument is assumed

to be dishonoured by non-payment when the drawee of a cheque makes default in payment upon
being duly required to pay the same. If the drawer of the cheques issues directions to the bank for
not making any payment of a specific cheque issued by him, then the bank stands revoked from
making payment on that particular cheque, this is called as countermand of cheques by the
drawer.

Reasons for Dishonour of Cheque

1. Closed Account

2. Funds not sufficient

 3. Mismatched signatures

4. Account holder stopped the payment

5. Customer’s Death

6. Customer’s Insanity

7. The disparity in the figures and words mentioned in the cheque

Legislation on the dishonour of cheque is referred from section 138 to 142 of the Negotiable
Instruments Act 1881 as amended by Negotiable Instruments ( Amendment ) Act 2015. The
penal provisions provided in Sections 138 to 142 of the Act have been made to ensure that
obligations undertaken by providing cheques as a method of deferred payment are honoured.
Section 138 of the Act requires for the conditions under which a suit for the dishonour of
cheques is filed. The essential ingredients which are necessary for complying with Section 138
are the following:

1. A person must have drawn a cheque for payment of money to another for the discharge of
any debt or other liability;

2. That cheque is returned by the bank unpaid, either because insufficient of funds or that it
exceeds the amount arranged to be paid from that account by an agreement made with the
bank;

3. The payee makes a demand for the payment of the money by giving a notice in writing to
the drawer within 15 days of the receipt of information by him from the bank regarding
the return of the cheque as unpaid;

4. The drawer fails to make a payment to the payee within 15 days of the receipt of the
notice.

Punishment

An individual who commits an offence under Section 138 may be punished as under :
 1. Imprisonment for up to 2 years.

2. A fine which may extend to twice the amount of the cheque, or with both.

However, no person can be punished unless the cheque has been presented to the bank within six
months from the date on which it is drawn or within the period of its validity, whichever is
earlier.
Q.2 What is Contempt of Court. Types of Contempt of Court and describe in details about
each type of contempt of Court. Is there any defence available to a person against whom
the contempt proceeding has been initiated?

ANS- Contempt of court is any behavior or wrongdoing that conflicts with or challenges the
authority, integrity, and superiority of the court. These acts might include failure to comply with
requests, witness tampering, withholding evidence, interruption of proceedings, or defying a
court order. These wrongful acts may be committed by attorneys, officers of the court, court
personnel, jurors, witnesses, protestors, or any party involved in a court proceeding.

TYPES OF CONTEMPT OF COURT:

CIVIL CONTEMPT:- Section 2(a) of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 states Civil Contempt
as wilful disobedience to the order, decree, direction, any judgment or writ of the Court by any
person or willfully breach of undertakings by a person given to a Court. Since Civil Contempt
deprives a party of the benefit for which the order was made so these are the offences
essential of private nature. In other words, a person who is entitled to get the benefit of the court
order, this wrong is generally done to this person.

Ingredients of Civil Contempt:

 Any disobedience or the breach must be done willfully (governed by will).

 The disobedience must be a deliberate and intentional act or omission which must be
understood in contrast with the act done accidentally, without purpose and unintentional.

 the making of a valid court order, knowledge of the order by respondent, the ability of the
respondent to render compliance.

 It excludes casual, accidental, bona fide or unintentional acts or genuine inability to

comply with the terms of the order.

 CRIMINAL CONTEMPT:- Under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971,
criminal contempt has been defined as the publication (whether by words, spoken or
written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing
of any other act whatsoever which:
(i) Scandalises or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court, or

(ii) Prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with the due course of any judicial proceeding,
or

(iii) Interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of
justice in any other manner.

 The definition of the term contempt in section 2 (c) makes it clear that contempt may be
committed either by publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or signs) or by the
doing of any other act which leads to any of the consequences contemplated in sub-
clauses (i),(ii) and (iii) of subsection (c) of section 2.

 Note the phrase “tends to”. It means it is not necessary that scandalising or prejudicing
any court or interference must have been completed. Even though the process might have
just commenced or in other words tending to scandalise or to prejudice or to interfere or
to obstruct administration of justice is also criminal contempt.

 It is not necessary for the contempt that the act must have been done either in the face of
the court or just in front of it. The word spoken or otherwise, or published, or acts done
might be outside the court but the same must be intended to scandalise or prejudice or
likely to interfere with or obstruct the fair administration of justice and are punishable as
criminal contempt of the court.

DEFENCES TO CIVIL CONTEMPT:-

A person who is accused of Civil Contempt of case can take the following defences:

Lack of Knowledge of the order: A person can not be held liable for Contempt of Court if he
does not know the order given by the court or he claims to be unaware of the order. There is a
duty binding on the successful party by the courts that the order that has passed should be served
to the Individual by the post or personally or through the certified copy. It can be successfully
pleaded by the contemner that the certified copy of the order was not formally served to him.
The disobedience or the breach done should not be : If someone is pleading under this
defence then he can say that the act done by him was not done willfully, it was just a mere
accident or he/she can say that it is beyond their control. But this plead can only be successful if
it found to be reasonable otherwise your plead can be discarded.

The order that has disobeyed should be vague or ambiguous: If the order passed by the court
is vague or ambiguous or this order is not specific or complete in itself then a person can get the
defence of contempt if he says something against that order

Orders involve more than one reasonable interpretation: If the contempt of any order
declared by the court and the order seems to be given more than one reasonable and rational
interpretation and the respondent adopts one of those interpretations and works in accordance
with that then he will not be liable for Contempt of Court.

Command of the order is impossible: If compliance of the order is impossible or it can not be
done easily then it would be taken as a defence in the case of Contempt of Court. However, one
should differentiate the case of impossibility with the case of mere difficulties. Because this
defence can be given only in the case of the impossibility of doing an order.

DEFENCES TO CRIMINAL CONTEMPT:-

Innocent publication and distribution of matter: S.3 deals with this defense. If a criminal
contempt is initiated against a person on the ground that he is responsible for publication or for
distribution of publication which prejudices or interferes with the pending proceedings, the
contemptner may take the following steps:
(a) he may plead under S. 3(1) that at the time of publication, he had no reasonable ground for
believing that the proceeding was pending.
(b) he may plead under S.3(2) that at the time of publication, no such proceeding was pending.
(c) he may plead under S.3(3) that at the time of distribution of publication, he had no reasonable
ground for believing that the matter (published or distributed by him) contained or was likely to
contain any material which interfered or obstructed the pending proceeding or administration of
justice
Fair and accurate report of judicial proceedings: S.4 of the Act provides that a person should
not be held guilty of Contempt of Court for publishing a fair and accurate report of any judicial
proceedings or any stage thereof. S. 7 of the Act provides Exception to the general principle that
justice should be administered in public.

Fair criticism of judicial act: S.5 provides that a person shall not be guilty of criminal contempt
for publishing any fair comment on the merits of any case which has been finally decided. A
defense can be taken that the statement complained of (in respect of publication of which
criminal contempt has been initiated) must be in respect of a case which has been finally decided
and not in respect of pending proceedings

Bonafide complain against the presiding officer of a subordinate court: S.6 provides that a
person shall not be guilty of contempt of court in respect of any statement made by him by way
of complaint in good faith concerning the presiding officer of any sub-ordinate court to the High
Court or to the Court to which he is sub-ordinate.

Defamation of the judge personally: If the publication or other act is merely a defamatory
attack on the judge and is not intended to interfere with the administration of justice, it will not
be taken as contempt of court.

No substantial interference with due course of justice: S. 13 provides that notwithstanding

anything contained in any law for the time being in force, no Court should impose a sentence for
Contempt of Court unless it is satisfied that the Contempt is of such a nature that it substantially
interferes or tends to interfere with the due course of justice.

Justification by truth.
S.13(2) provides that the Court may permit justification by truth as a valid defense in any
proceeding for criminal contempt if it is satisfied that it is in public interest. Thus, truth is now a
defense if it is in the public interest and bonafide.

The statement complained of is open to different interpretations: If the words complained of

are open to two different interpretations and one of them indicates contempt while the other does
not, the contemptner cannot be punished for non-compliance of one interpretation.