CHEQUE SIGN MISMATCH MAY LEAD TO CRIMINAL CHARGES : SUPREME COURT

     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 quality 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.

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THE PONDICHERRY CO-OPERATIVE URBAN BANK ADOPTS IBM SMARTCLOUD FOR BANKING SOLUTION

     The Pondicherry Co-operative Urban Bank has adopted IBM SmartCloud for its core banking solution.  The solution will help the bank offer more customer-centric services and establish a ‘robust’ banking operation.  This is IBM’s third win in the Co-operative bank section for cloud computing.  Prior to this IBM implemented a SmartCloud solution for Nawanagar Co-operative Bank Ltd., in Gujarat and Sree Charan Souharda Co-operative Bank Ltd., in Bangalore.

     As part of the agreement with Pondicherry Bank, one of the leading co-operative banks in the Puducherry region, IBM will provide shared private cloud infrastructure services to host and manage core banking application from IBM Business Partner Infrasoft Technologies Ltd.  With new regulations shaping customer expectations from co-operative banks in India, these banks have an increased focus on IT-related compliance in order to effectively compete against other private banks.

     By implementing the multi-tenant infrastructure as-a-service(IaaS) on the cloud, the bank will be able to offer financial solutions to customers, including Internet banking, online money transfer, ATM and mobile banking.  It will also help the bank centralize its mission-critical operations such as real-time transaction processing across its six branches in Puducherry.  This shared private cloud for compute and storage is implemented from an IBM data centre in Bangalore and has the ability to rapidly provision capacity for additional branches as required.

     “With the implementation of Core Banking Solutions on IBM SmartCloud, we will be able to operate from a single location at greater efficiency”

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GET TO KNOW YOUR PAN CARD BETTER  — courtesy : Business Line

     The importance of Permanent Account Number(PAN) card has grown over the years, and it is today an essential part of our lives.  The most important purpose of allotting PAN to an entity is the purpose of identification and tracking of all related monetary information of that entity.  Initially, the significance of PAN was for filing income tax returns.  Over time, the PAN was used in dealings with the stock markets, banks and the purchase of real estate and vehicles.

Multiple uses of PAN Card

• Bank fixed deposits: If you open a fixed deposit with your bank for an amount exceeding Rs.50,000, you will need to furnish a copy of your PAN card.  In the absence of PAN, the bank will deduct tax at source (TDS) of 20% or at the prevailing rate, whichever is higher (instead of the normal 10%).  Further, the bank will not issue a TDS certificate form 15(g)/15(h) and other exemption certificates will be invalid in this case.

PAN cards are also used for the following:   

• Payment in second handed car dealings
• Telephone installations
• Visa facilitation centres.  It is seen that quoting or producing a copy of your PAN card is compulsory in practically every monetary transaction.  The significance of PAN cannot be questioned as this has become the primary document sought in all important legitimate dealings.

NRIs and the PAN card

     An NRI too will need a PAN card if he has an income in India and therefore has to file returns, if he wishes to invest in the country, when he carries out banking transactions, or if he purchases real estate or for any other transaction mentioned above.

What you need to be wary of

     The Importance of the PAN card has increased the like lines of identity theft.  Safeguarding the physical copy of your card no longer assures you that it is not being misused.  Most transactions demand a copy of your PAN card, or simply a quote of the Permanent Account Number.  It is thus very easy for your information to be misused for high-ticket purchases or benami transactions of which you are not even a part.

An instance of how your information can be misused:  Recently, a consumer activist group revealed that PAN card copies being used in rail Tatkal tickets were misused by several jewellers.  When an individual produces his PAN to book such tickets, the information is fed into the Indian Railways system and also displayed on the ticket, the reservation chart and train coaches.  Unscrupulous jewellers steal such information from such public displays and use it to furnish tax details while they sell jewellery of high value to high-net worth individuals (HNIs) who do not wish to produce their PAN.

How to beat PAN card frauds

     When your PAN card is misused, you may not even be aware of the fraud for atleast six months after the transaction.  You can check for such benami transactions by going through your Form 26AS, which is a consolidated statement of tax de-ducted, along with other details.  If you are a non-tax paying PAN card holder, you may not even be able to check this form.  The income tax department will require that the PAN cardholder prove that the transaction was not of his doing, and that he give details on his source of funds.  This becomes very difficult and time-consuming.  As a PAN cardholder, you should take care while disclosing your PAN details to anyone.  You must hand over only signed photocopies and try to reduce using PAN in all casual transactions as ID proof. 

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