Cheque dishonour under s.138: the timeline that decides the case

First, notice. Once the bank returns the cheque unpaid, the payee has thirty days from receiving information of the dishonour to make a written demand on the drawer. The trigger is information of dishonour, not the date on the return memo — a distinction that matters when the memo sits in a courier bag for a week.

Second, payment. The drawer has thirty days from receipt of that notice to pay. Until that period expires, no offence is complete and no complaint is maintainable. A complaint filed on day twenty is premature and liable to be thrown out.

Third, filing. The cause of action arises on the day the payment period lapses. From that day the payee has one month to file the complaint. Late filing is fatal unless the court is persuaded to condone the delay.

A demand that does not specify the cheque amount is not a demand. Identify the instrument by number, date, drawee bank and branch; state the amount in figures and words; attach or recite the return memo reason; and demand payment of that sum within thirty days. Bundling unrelated dues into the same letter invites an argument that no lawful demand was ever made.

Service is a question of fact you will have to prove. Registered post with acknowledgement due, plus a courier receipt, plus the address as it appears in the drawer's own correspondence, is cheap insurance against a denial of receipt at trial.

Practitioners advising a convicted drawer should raise the deposit condition on appeal early. It changes the commercial calculation entirely, and a client who hears about it only after conviction will not hear it kindly.

This is general information about how the provision is structured. It is not advice on your matter, the periods stated should be checked against the current text of the Act, and you should instruct an enrolled advocate before acting.