Where to File a Cheque Bounce Complaint After the 2015 Amendment

Where do I file a cheque bounce complaint?

In the court that has territorial jurisdiction over the payee's home branch. Section 142(2)(a) says that where the cheque is delivered for collection through an account, the offence shall be inquired into and tried only by a court within whose local jurisdiction the branch of the bank where the payee maintains the account is situated. The word 'only' rules out every other court: the drawer's city, the place of the transaction, the place where the notice was sent from.

The Explanation to section 142(2) closes a gap that would otherwise cause confusion. If the cheque is delivered for collection at any branch of the payee's bank, it is deemed to have been delivered at the branch where the payee maintains the account. So if your account is at a branch in Janakpuri and you deposit the cheque at a branch of the same bank in Mumbai while travelling, jurisdiction stays with Janakpuri. The deposit location is irrelevant; the home branch decides.

The second route, under section 142(2)(b), applies only where the cheque is presented for payment otherwise than through an account, for example when the payee walks into the drawer's branch and presents a bearer cheque at the counter. In that case the court where the drawer's branch is has jurisdiction. That situation is rare in business disputes today, since almost every cheque is deposited through clearing.

The provisions on jurisdiction

Which court? Common situations

In each case, the question is where the payee's home branch is, unless the cheque was presented over the counter.

How the law got here: Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod and the 2015 amendment

For about fifteen years before 2014, the Supreme Court's reading of the old section 142 allowed a complaint to be filed in any of several places connected with the transaction: where the cheque was drawn, presented, returned, or where the notice was sent or received. Complainants, especially banks and finance companies, used this to file in their own cities, and accused persons sometimes faced complaints in courts hundreds of kilometres from home.

In Dashrath Rupsingh Rathod v State of Maharashtra (2014), a three-judge bench changed this. It held that the offence is committed where the cheque is dishonoured by the drawee bank, so only the court where the drawer's bank branch is situated has jurisdiction. Thousands of complaints across the country were returned for filing in the drawer's city. For many payees, particularly small businesses, that meant pursuing defaulters in distant courts.

Parliament responded with an Ordinance in June 2015 and then the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act 2015, deemed to have come into force on 15 June 2015. It rewrote section 142(2) to give jurisdiction to the court of the payee's home branch, added the Explanation, and inserted section 142A to deal with pending cases and to keep later complaints in one court. In Bridgestone India v Inderpal Singh (2016), the Supreme Court confirmed that the amended provision governs, including for cases that were pending when it came in, and that jurisdiction follows the payee's branch.

Home branch, not the branch where you dropped the cheque

This is where most of the remaining confusion lies. People assume that the place where they physically deposited the cheque decides the court. It does not. The Explanation deems delivery at any branch of the payee's bank to be delivery at the home branch, the branch where the payee 'maintains the account'. In 2025 the Supreme Court applied this again, setting aside orders that had sent a complaint to the city where the cheques were deposited, and holding that the complaints belonged in the city where the payee's account was actually held.

What is the home branch? It is the branch shown in the bank's records as the branch where the account is held, usually printed on the passbook, the cheque book and the account statement, and identified by the IFSC on the statement. If the account was transferred to a different branch before the cheque was deposited, the new branch is the home branch. If it was transferred after the cheque bounced, the branch at the time of delivery for collection is the one that counts.

A practical point Advocate B.K. Singh makes to clients is to get a simple letter or statement from the bank showing the branch where the account is maintained, and to file it with the complaint. It costs nothing, takes a day, and answers the jurisdiction question before the accused can raise it. Where the complaint is filed by a company with many accounts, the deposit slip and the return memo together show which account the cheque went into.

Which court in Delhi? Finding the right district

Once you know the home branch, you need the district. Delhi has eleven judicial districts, and each Judicial Magistrate's court has jurisdiction over the areas of specific police stations. The court for your complaint is the one whose jurisdiction covers the police station area in which the bank branch sits. If the branch is in Connaught Place, that is the New Delhi district at Patiala House. If it is in Dwarka Sector 6, that is the South West district at Dwarka. The bank branch's address, not the complainant's home address, is what you map.

Each district court complex has dedicated courts for NI Act complaints, and Delhi has also set up digital courts that handle some cheque cases. Complaints in the Delhi district courts can be filed through the e-filing system as well as at the filing counter. The allocation of police stations to districts and courts is notified by the Delhi High Court and is revised from time to time, especially when new police stations are created, so check the current notification for the branch's police station before filing.

Getting the district wrong within Delhi is less serious than filing in the wrong state, because the complaint can be returned and refiled quickly, or in some situations transferred by the Sessions Judge. But it still costs a date or two and can create a limitation argument if the complaint was filed close to the deadline. Our page on the criminal courts in Delhi lists the court complexes and their areas in general terms.

Delhi judicial districts and their court complexes

A general guide. Always confirm the district from the police station area of the bank branch, using the current notification.

Area examples are indicative only. Police station boundaries do not follow locality names neatly, and a branch on one side of a road can fall in a different district from a branch on the other side.

Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram

The same rule applies across the NCR. If the payee's home branch is in Noida or Greater Noida, the complaint goes to the Gautam Buddh Nagar district court at Surajpur. If it is in Ghaziabad, including Vaishali, Indirapuram and Raj Nagar, it goes to the Ghaziabad district court. If it is in Gurugram, the Gurugram district court. A payee who lives in Delhi but banks at a branch in Noida must file in Noida, and a payee who lives in Noida but banks in Delhi files in Delhi.

This sometimes surprises business owners who have an office in one place and a bank account in another. The rule is mechanical and does not care about convenience. If you want future cheque complaints to be filed near your office, the practical solution is to maintain your collection account at a branch near the office, and to deposit customer cheques into that account.

Appeals, revisions and quashing petitions follow the trial court. A complaint in Delhi will end up, if it goes that far, in the Delhi High Court; a complaint in Noida or Ghaziabad in the Allahabad High Court. That can matter to a drawer who wants to challenge the case, and to a complainant who wants a quick hearing, but it does not change where the complaint must be filed.

How to work out the right court and file

For a payee about to file a section 138 complaint.

1. Identify the account

   Check which account the cheque was credited to for collection, from the deposit slip and the return memo. For a company with several accounts, confirm the exact account number.

2. Confirm the home branch

   Get a bank statement or a short letter from the bank showing the branch where the account is maintained and its IFSC. Note the branch's full address.

3. Map the branch to a police station

   Find the police station whose area includes the branch address. In Delhi, check the current notification that allots police stations to districts and courts.

4. Check for earlier complaints

   If you have already filed a section 138 complaint against the same drawer, file this one in the same court under section 142A(2).

5. Check limitation

   Count one month from the end of the 15 days after the drawer received the notice. If you are close to the deadline, file in the right court first and worry about convenience later.

6. File the complaint

   File with the cheque, return memo, notice, postal proof, the bank document showing the home branch, and an evidence affidavit, at the filing counter or through e-filing.

7. Plead jurisdiction expressly

   State in a separate paragraph of the complaint where the account is maintained and why the court has jurisdiction under section 142(2)(a).

Documents that prove jurisdiction

File these with the complaint so that the point never becomes an argument.

• Bank statement or bank letter showing the branch where the account is maintained, with IFSC
• Deposit slip or counterfoil, or the app or ATM deposit record
• The bank's return memo, showing the presenting bank and account
• Your bank's intimation of dishonour, if separate
• Proof of any change of branch before the cheque was deposited
• For a company, the board resolution authorising the complaint and a statement of which account was used
• Copies of earlier section 138 complaints against the same drawer, if any

The accused lives in another state. Does that change anything?

It does not change the court, but it does affect what happens before summons. Where the accused resides outside the area of the Magistrate's jurisdiction, the law requires the Magistrate to inquire into the case before issuing process; this was section 202 of the old CrPC and is now section 225 BNSS. In the 2021 suo motu case on expeditious trial of cheque cases, the Supreme Court held that in section 138 complaints this inquiry can be conducted on the basis of the complainant's evidence on affidavit, so it need not cause long delays.

In September 2025, in Sanjabij Tari v Kishore S. Borcar, the Supreme Court gave a set of directions to speed up cheque cases, including service of summons through electronic means and by the complainant directly, in addition to the usual modes, with an affidavit of service. For a drawer in another state, that means the summons is more likely to reach him quickly, and the case is less likely to stall at the service stage. Our post on summons and warrants in cheque bounce cases explains what the accused should do when the summons arrives.

An accused who lives far away can apply for exemption from personal appearance and, in many courts, appear by video conference for routine dates. That eases the burden of a distant court considerably, and it is one reason the Supreme Court rarely transfers cheque cases to the accused's city.

Several cheques from the same drawer

Section 142A(2) keeps them together. Once a payee has filed a complaint against a drawer in a court with jurisdiction under section 142(2), every later complaint by that payee against that drawer must be filed in the same court, even if the later cheques were deposited through a different account or a different branch. This prevents a payee from scattering complaints across cities and spares the drawer from defending in several places.

Whether several cheques can be included in one complaint is a separate question. Each dishonoured cheque is a separate offence, with its own notice and limitation. Where several cheques were dishonoured and covered by one notice, complainants often file one complaint covering them, and courts have generally allowed this where the transactions are connected; but for cheques with different dates of dishonour and different notices, separate complaints are safer, filed in the same court. Ask your advocate to check the limitation for each cheque separately.

Filed in the wrong court? Return of the complaint and limitation

If the court finds it has no territorial jurisdiction, it does not dismiss the complaint. It returns it for presentation to the proper court, with an endorsement of the date of filing and return; this was section 201 of the old CrPC and is now section 224 BNSS. The complainant then refiles in the correct court.

The difficulty is limitation. The complaint must be filed within one month after the cause of action, and by the time it is returned, that month has usually passed. The proviso to section 142(1)(b) allows the court to take cognizance of a late complaint if the complainant shows sufficient cause. A bona fide filing in the wrong court, pursued diligently and refiled promptly after return, is ordinarily a good reason, but it is still an application the court has to decide, and the accused will oppose it. Refile within days, not weeks, with an application for condonation explaining the dates.

Accused persons should raise territorial jurisdiction at the first opportunity. An objection taken years into the trial, after the accused has participated without protest, is less likely to succeed and may be treated as waived in some circumstances. If the complaint plainly shows that the payee's home branch is outside the court's area, the objection should be on the record at the first hearing.

Can the accused get the case transferred to his own city?

Rarely. Transfer of a criminal case from one state to another is possible only by the Supreme Court under section 446 BNSS (section 406 of the old CrPC), and the Court has been reluctant to transfer section 138 cases because Parliament has deliberately fixed jurisdiction at the payee's branch. Inconvenience to the accused, by itself, is not a ground. The Court has more often directed that the accused be allowed exemption from personal appearance or appearance by video conference, which addresses the inconvenience without defeating the statute.

Within a state, the High Court can transfer cases under section 447 BNSS, and the Sessions Judge can transfer cases between courts in the same sessions division under section 448 BNSS. These powers are used where a case has been filed in the wrong court within the district, or for administrative reasons, rather than to suit one party. Where several complaints by the same payee are pending in different courts, section 142A(3) supports bringing them before the court where the first was filed. Our Supreme Court practice page covers transfer petitions in general terms.

Jurisdiction for the civil claim is different

The criminal complaint and the civil suit for the same money follow different rules. A summary suit under Order 37 of the Code of Civil Procedure is filed under section 20 of the CPC, where the defendant resides or carries on business, or where the cause of action wholly or partly arose. That may be a different city from the court that hears the criminal complaint. Payees who pursue both remedies should plan both filings separately.

Our posts on criminal case, summary suit or both and on summary suits under Order 37 explain the civil route, and our civil law practice page covers recovery suits more broadly.

Mistakes on jurisdiction

• Filing where the drawer lives. That was the law between August 2014 and June 2015. It is not the law now.
• Filing where you deposited the cheque. The Explanation deems delivery at the home branch, wherever you dropped the cheque.
• Filing near your residence or office. Your address is irrelevant; the branch's address decides.
• Not proving the home branch. A bank statement or letter showing the branch and IFSC ends the argument before it starts.
• Splitting complaints against one drawer across courts. Section 142A(2) sends later complaints to the court of the first.
• Waiting after a return. Refile within days, with an application for condonation of delay.
• Raising the objection late. An accused who wants to challenge jurisdiction should do it at the start.

Before you file

Jurisdiction is a ten-minute check that saves months. Before filing, confirm the account, the home branch, the police station and the district, and put the bank document in the complaint. If you are the accused, check the same facts from the complaint and the return memo at the first hearing. Our post on how a section 138 case runs in Delhi courts explains what happens after the complaint is admitted.

If you want an advocate to confirm the right court and the deadline before you file, the team of Advocate B.K. Singh can look at the cheque, the return memo and your bank details; send them through our online enquiry form.