<span style="color: #222222;">Parliament has passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2018 with the Rajya Sabha approving it today. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Bill allows a court trying an offence related to cheque bounce to direct the drawer to pay interim compensation to the complainant. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The compensation will not exceed 20 per cent of the cheque amount and will have to be paid by the drawer within 60 days of the trial court's order. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Replying to a debate on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said, there are 16 lakh cases of cheque bounce still lying in District and Subordinate courts and 32,000 cases are in High Courts. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, the legislation will ensure the credibility of cheques and the drawer will rest assured that the instrument will not be dishonoured.</span><br />

<span style="color: #222222;">The Lok Sabha today passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which has the provision of allowing a court trying an offence related to cheque bouncing, to direct the drawer to pay interim compensation to the complainant. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Replying to a debate on the bill, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said, 16 lakh cheque bouncing cases are lying in the subordinate courts and 35 thousand cases are in the higher judiciary. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, the interim compensation may be paid under certain circumstances, including where the drawer pleads not guilty of the accusation. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, the interim compensation will not exceed 20 per cent of the cheque amount and will have to be paid by the drawer within 60 days of the trial court's order to pay such a compensation.</span><br />'' <br />