Question: In a case, the amount due from a person is more than the cheque amount which has been dishonoured. In this situation, can both the cheque bounce case and the civil suit for recovery of the amount be filed simultaneously?
Answer: In one of my previous answers (Cheque bounce case and civil suit for recovery of same amount), I have mentioned that while both the proceedings are possible simultaneously (i.e., cheque bounce case under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, as well as civil suit for recovery of money due), generally in practice only Section 138 case is filed by most people since this is a faster way of getting justice and also since if this case succeeds then generally the court will award fine / compensation equivalent to the amount of the cheque, which will obviate the need for filing of the civil suit for recovery of money. I had also referred to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of D. Purushotama Reddy v. K. Sateesh, (2008) 8 SCC 505.
However, if the cheque was issued only for a part amount of the total amount payable or due, i.e., where the cheque amount is less than the total amount due from the party, and if such cheque is dishonoured, then the only course open to recover the full amount due would be to also file the civil suit for recovery of the amount due, along with the cheque bounce case. Since the total amount due is more than the amount of the cheque that has been dishonoured, you may have to file a civil suit for recovery if other methods of getting the amount back do not work. Filing these two cases together is legally permissible.
