service of notice under NI act

The notice of demand u/s 138 is sent to the defaulter within the statutory period but the envelope is returned unserved with postal comment that the person is not found / available at the written address. I want to know whether the notice shall be deemed to be notionally served upon the defaulting person for the purpose of claim u/s 138.

Ashutosh Choubey

NPHL, Ranchi

the service is not effected in your case,you have to get aproper address and see to it that is duly served on the offender.the essence of N.i.act is that  anotice has to be issued and it has to be served upon the person .only after the expiry of the 15 th day of the recipt of the notice only,it transforms into an offence under ni. act if at all he doesnt pay your amount  on the cheque.If at all theoffender pays the amount on chequewithin 15 days of the reciept of the notice he will be absolved from the offence. after the service of notice for his  acts of willfull negligence in issuing a cheque without having sufficient funds in the account.It is mandatory for you to serve the notice  on the person then only you can file a case after due service of notice .

If at all you are filing it now with the same acknowledgement your complaint will be rejected for want of proof of service

If the holder and the party to whom notice of dishnour is given cary on business or live (as the case may be) in different places, such notice is given within a reasonable time if it is despatched by the next post or on the day next after the day of dishnour.

If the said parties carry on business or live in the same place, such notice is given within a reasonable time if it is despatched in time to reach its destination on the day next after the day of dishonour.