Cheque signature mismatch may lead to criminal proceedings: SC

The account holder must be given a notice and an opportunity to arrange the payments before initiation of criminal proceedings against him, says the apex court.

New Delhi, Dec 2:

A person may face criminal proceedings if a cheque issued by him gets dishonoured on the ground that his signature does not match the specimen signature available with the bank, the Supreme Court has said.

A Bench of justices T.S. Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra set aside the verdict of Gujarat High Court which had held that criminal proceedings for dishonouring of cheque can be initiated only when the cheque is dishonoured because of lack of sufficient amount in the bank account and not in case where a cheque is returned due to mismatch of signature of account holder.

“Just as dishonour of a cheque on the ground that the account has been closed is a dishonour falling in the first contingency referred to in Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, so also dishonour on the ground that the ’signatures do not match’ or that the ‘image is not found’, which too implies that the specimen signatures do not match the signatures on the cheque would constitute a dishonour within the meaning of Section 138 of the Act,” the bench said.

The apex court, however, said that in such cases of dishonouring of cheques, the account holder must be given a notice and an opportunity to arrange the payments before initiation of criminal proceedings against him.

“Dishonour on account of such changes that may occur in the course of ordinary business of a company, partnership or an individual may not constitute an offence by itself because such a dishonour in order to qualify for prosecution under Section 138 shall have to be preceded by a statutory notice where the drawer is called upon and has the opportunity to arrange the payment of the amount covered by the cheque,” it said.

UPDATES:

1. The RBI asked NBFCs to replace post-dated cheques issued to them by customers with new standardized cheques with improved security features. NBFCs accept post-dated cheques from their customers for future monthly installment payments. For the purpose of standardization and enhanced security features, the banks have been told by RBI to migrate to the CTS 2010′ standard by December 31, 2012. 
2. For e-filing, mandatory for all assessees (other than Individuals) to update profile in Login on IT website. For e-filing with DSC, register DSC again.

Unique Facility for EPF members to Download their E-Pass Book

Unique Facility for EPF members to Download their E-Pass Book

A unique facility for EPF members to download their e-pass book each month, if they are active members and ECR is being uploaded by their employer, was today formally launched by Shri R.C.Mishra, Central PF Commissioner here in the EPFO headquarters, New Delhi.

The salient features of this facility are as under:

The members shall be able to download their e-pass book each month, if they are active members and ECR is being uploaded by their employer.
In case of the members who are not active (left service) and have not settled their account or have not become inoperative, the facility to download the pass book on request basis shall be available.
The facility shall be available on www.epfindia.gov.in
Any PF member can register himself/herself on the Member Portal by using his/her Photo Identification number such as PAN, Aadhar, NPR, Driving License, Passport, Voter ID, Ration Card and use the mobile number as the password. Thus the member will not be required to remember any user id/password.
The member can add multiple id numbers after registration and can use any one for login.
Once registered, he/she can download the pass book by entering his/her account number. If available the pass book will appear for download.
In case not available a request will be created on the portal and once the pass book is uploaded by the respective field office, an SMS will be sent to the member to login and download the pass book.
The e-pass book shall contain the transaction wise details in the member`s account (all credits and debits) since the month for which the details for the establishment have been processed in the new application software at the field offices.
The facility, however is not available for the members under establishments that are exempted under the EPF Scheme 1952 (as the fund details are maintained by the Trust), Inoperative members (i.e in accounts where no contribution has been received during preceding 36 months).

However, the facility will have following restrictions:-

Only one registration is permitted against one mobile number.

The member can download the passbook for only one account number under one establishment. Thus in case he/she has worked for different spells in one establishment with different account numbers, he/she has to apply for the transfer of the old account to the new so that the credit may be reflected in the e-pass book of the new account.
To view the amount balance against any inoperative account also the member should apply for transfer and then the transferred amount will reflect as credit in the present account of the member.

NEW BATCH FOR CS FOUNDATION JUNE 2013

NEW BATCH FOR CS FOUNDATION JUNE, 2013

INSTITUTE FOR CORPORATE ACHIEVERS

GOING TO START NEW BATCH OF CS FOUNDATION FROM 17TH DECEMEBER

JUNE 2013 EXAMS from

FOR DETAILS CONTACT:
AT 3RD FLOOR, CHITRAHAR BUILDING, NAVAL KISHORE ROAD, HAZRATGANJ, LUCKNOW. PH: 05224011081, MOB:8176882499, 9935778867, 8687113270

Clarification about Applicability of the latest Finance Act 

and other changes for Company Secretaries December, 

2012 Examination

DIRECT TAXES


Direct Taxes applicable for December 2012 Examination shall be Assessment Year 2012-13 (Previous Year 2011-12).

Students are advised to study Finance Act, 2011 for December 2012 Examination. Executive and Professional Programme Students are required to update themselves about all the Circulars, Clarifications, Notifications, etc. issued by the CBDT & Central Government, on or before six months prior to the date of the respective examinations.

INDIRECT TAXES

Students appearing in ‘Executive Programme’ (in the ‘Tax Laws’) and 'Professional Programme' (in the 'Advanced Tax Laws and Practice') respectively may take note of the following changes applicable for December 2012 Examination.

All changes made by the Finance Act, 2012.
All Circulars, Clarifications/Notifications issued by CBEC / Central Government effective six months prior to the date of examination.

Students of Executive Programme may specifically Note that Change as made in Service Tax by Finance Act, 2012 shall be applicable for December, 2012 Examinations.

Download the amendments by clicking above link :-

Tax updates for December 2012 Exams
http://www.icsi.edu/docs/webmodules/linksofweeks/Tax%20updates%20for%20December%202012%20Exams%20.pdf

Online Consumer Complain Website

USEFUL INFORMATION
DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS (Ministry of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution,Govt of india) HAD LAUNCHED A WEBSITE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CONSUMERS
 http://www.ccccore.co.in/Serverbusy.html?aspxerrorpath=/Default.aspx

RBI Guidelines on cheque Books compliant with Cheque Truncation System (CTS-2010) Standards

As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, cheque books being issued by banks need to be compliant with Cheque Truncation System (CTS-2010) standards. This requirement has come into effect from 01 April 2012 for Northern and Southern Regions and for rest of the country from 30 September 2012.

We are pleased to advise that we have been issuing payable at par CTS-2010 Standard compliant cheque books to our customers since March 2012.

The new cheque standard 'CTS 2010' provides a set of minimum security features which would ensure uniformity across all cheque forms issued by banks in the country and also help presenting banks while scrutinising / recognizing cheques of drawee banks in an image-based processing scenario. The homogeneity in security features is expected to act as a deterrent against cheque frauds, while the standardisation of field placements on cheque forms would enable straight-through-processing.

Some of the additional features that have been incorporated in the new cheque forms are:

1. CTS INDIA watermark in the security paper
2. Void Pantograph
3. Bank's Logo printed in Invisible UV Ink
4. Standardization of the field placement
5. Micro-lettering

Since RBI is now moving towards accepting only CTS 2010 standard compliant cheques, please note that the old non-CTS 2010 standard cheque forms should not be used post 31 December 2012.

All customers who hold a cheque book issued by the Bank prior to 31 March 2012, are requested to apply for a new cheque book as per the "CTS-2010 standard" at the earliest.