The Supreme Court has decided that a person may face criminal proceedings — jail and fine of hefty amount — if a cheque issued by him/her gets dishonoured on the ground that the signature does not match the specimen signature available with the bank. With due respect to the apex court, this decision must be reconsidered as the signatures of many senior citizens vary over a very short period of time because of health reasons. Whenever the signature is not as per the specimen, the account holder can be called by the branch manager to provide a new specimen signature. Customers can give their phone number on the reverse of the cheque and if the signature does not tally, he can be asked over phone to confirm if he issued that cheque. The cheque can be held back and cleared a day or two later, after getting this confirmation. Although the apex court’s intention to prevent fraud is laudable, this step will cause more trouble to senior citizens.
- M. Kumar, New Delhi (HBL)
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