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RBI to move to CTS for clearing government’s cheques

RBI has decided to dispense with the requirement of physically forwarding paid central government cheques to the departments for clearance.

With a view to enhancing efficiency in cheque clearing, Reserve Bank has introduced Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for clearance of cheques, facilitating the presentation and payment of cheques without their physical movement.

Taking this initiative forward, it has now been decided in consultation with the Office of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India,  to dispense with current requirement of forwarding the paid Central Government cheques in physical form to the Government departments.

The practice of presenting cheques in physical form is commonly known as P2F.

The revised guidelines would be effective in respect of cheques issued by the Central Government and Union Territories (UTs) from February 1, 2016.

Click here to view the notification issues by RBI.

Cheque bounce cases can now be filed where it is presented

Parliament has passed a law allowing cheque bounce cases to be filed at the place where the cheque is presented for clearance and not the place of issue, a change that is expected to go a long way in improving legal recourse in such cases.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill  without any debate. The Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha moved the bill for passage that had been passed by the Lok Sabha earlier.

The amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act will impact over 18 lakh cheque bounce cases pending in various courts, Sinha said while moving the bill.

The amendments overturn a Supreme Court ruling which said the cases have to be initiated where the cheque-issuing branch was located.

The court had reasoned that the territorial jurisdiction for dishonour of cheques is restricted to the court within whose local jurisdiction the offence was committed, where the cheque is dishonoured by the bank on which it is drawn.

Subsequently, stakeholders made representations to the government, pointing out the wide impact this judgment would have on the business interests offering undue protection to defaulters at the expense of the aggrieved complainant.

The government decided to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. As per the amendment cases involving bounced cheques can be filed only in a court in whose jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee, the person who receives the cheque, lies.

“The offence under section 138 shall be inquired into and tried only by a court within whose local jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee, where the payee presents the cheque for payment, is situated,” the new provision says.

Under this rule, the aggrieved person can file a cheque bounce case in his area and the defendant will have to travel to defend himself, enhancing the strength of the legal recourse.

The amended law also provides that if a complaint against a person issuing a cheque has been filed in the court with the appropriate jurisdiction, then all subsequent complaints against that person will be filed in the same court, irrespective of the relevant jurisdiction area.

Source: The Economic Times

RBI prescribes measures for banks to prevent cheque frauds

In view of the rise in the number of cheque related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to put in place preventive measures including sending an SMS alert to payer/drawer when cheques are received in clearing.

Further, to prevent cases of suspicious or large value cheques (in relation to an account’s normal level of operations), the central bank has advised banks to alert customers by a phone call and get the confirmation from the payer/drawer.

The RBI has told banks to ensure the use of 100 per cent CTS (cheque truncation system) – 2010 compliant cheques.

Under the CTS environment, electronic image of the cheque is transmitted to the drawee branch through the clearing house, along with relevant information such as data on the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) band, date of presentation, and presenting bank. Cheque truncation obviates the need to move the physical instruments across branches.

According to a RBI notification on preventive measures for cheque related fraud cases, banks are required to strengthen the infrastructure at the cheque handling Service Branches and bestow special attention on the quality of equipment and personnel posted for CTS based clearing, so that it is not merely a mechanical process.

Banks have to ensure that the beneficiary is KYC (know-your-customer) compliant so that the bank has recourse to him/her as long as he/she remains a customer of the bank.

The RBI said banks should put in place a mechanism whereby all cheques beyond a threshold of say, Rs. 2 lakh are examined under UV lamp. Checking should be done at multiple levels, of cheques above a threshold of say, Rs. 5 lakh.

The threshold limits mentioned above can be reduced or increased at a later stage with the approval of the Board depending on the volume of cheques handled by the bank or its risk appetite.

Banks are required to closely monitor credits and debits in newly opened transaction accounts based on risk categorization.

In its notification, the RBI said “the rise in the number of cheque related fraud cases is a matter of serious concern. It is evident that many of such frauds could have been avoided had due diligence been observed at the time of handling and/or processing the cheques and monitoring newly opened accounts.”

Therefore, banks have been advised to review and strengthen the controls in the cheque presenting/passing and account monitoring processes and to ensure that all procedural guidelines including preventive measures are followed meticulously by the dealing staff/officials.

Referring to some cases where even though the original cheques were in the custody of the customer, cheques with the same series had been presented and encashed by fraudsters, the RBI said banks should take appropriate precautionary measures.

The precautionary measures have to ensure that the confidential information — customer name/account number/signature, cheque serial numbers and other related information are neither compromised nor misused either from the bank or from the vendors’ (printers, couriers etc.) side.

The RBI also said due care and secure handling is also to be exercised in the movement of cheques from the time they are tendered over the counters or dropped in the collection boxes by customers.

Source: Business Line