The LAWMAN- Section 138 of The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881

What would you do when your creditor is standing in front of you and you have an empty pocket or on a general ground, what do a businessman do to its supplier’s payment if he don’t have sufficient funds? The easiest way a debtor can think of making a payment is through a cheque, no matter whether in his bank account, he has sufficient funds or not. Atleast he was getting the goods on time against which he was making payment for. What a general feeling would be, that the debtor made a big fool of his creditor. So here I write this article to make you realize the big repercussions you might have to face for the smartness you performed.

This smart man should have realized that Indian lawmakers are smarter. This case of Dishonor of cheque comes under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act 1881. The lawmakers with time realized that this offence is much higher than what can be called as corporate offence and that people take it lightly. They therefore transformed it into a criminal offence.

According to law, a person who draws such kind of cheque has following punishments-

• Ø  Fine which may extend upto double the amount or
• Ø  Imprisonment whose term may extend upto 2 years or
• Ø  Both

But there are some requirements which need to be fulfilled for this kind of punishments to be exercised or in other words, this law to be applicable. They are:-

That is all about how Law deals with these smart people. But over the time it was realized that people can try to find loopholes even in this.

Like I give you an example:-

Suppose the drawer is informed about this law and still has drawn a cheque without sufficient bank balance.

Now what he does is, he gave a command to his bank to have “Stop Payment” of that particular cheque.

When creditor sues him in a court under this section, he vehemtly refuses, feeling that section doesn’t apply to him as it says the dishonor reason to be “insufficiency of funds”  and here it is “Stop Payment”. The drawer feels he has an easy escape, but sorry to him as it is not that simple.

For this simple reason the judges have given law words “insufficiency of funds” a wider meaning which include- 

• ü  Stop Payment
• ü  Closure of Account (Another smartness, after drawing he might close his account in bank)
• ü  Signature differ (yes this is also punishable under section 138, you might be feeling that this could happen unintentionally as well but then if he is genuine, he must have made payment in those 15 days of grace period!!!!).

This is generally known as mischief rule.

So in future never try such smartness, less you may have to face some real difficulties.

By- Aman Maggu

Our Fatboy- Air India, Truly Indian!

Our oldie, goldie Air India, given birth by J.R.D. Tata in 1932 with an aim to have India's own flying baby, is upset with this cruel world where a company, which was till two decades ago the sole bread winner in the airspace of the country, is no longer asked for by its fellow countrymen, let alone the swarms of foreigners coming to India to smirk at the slum dogs here. Tata's baby, which has grown up since, and exponentially, especially around the belly area, is seeming to be too heavy for its step daddy, our government, which can't stop it crying. Adopted in 1953 and scientifically experimented upon in 2007 when it was merged with its half brother, Indian Airlines, the experiment has gone haywire (as usual) and given life to such a monster (NACIL- National Aviation Company of India Limited) that the step daddy is desperately trying to find its mother so that it can save itself from the responsibility.

Its current godfather, Mr Praful Patel is feeding the fat NACIL at regular intervals, be it Rs 800 Crores past year, Rs 1200 crores in the coming weeks or Rs 3000 Crores promised in the coming 2 years. The fatboy is all too happy to have such a sincere godfather. But what can the godfather do, when the fatboy is threatening to go on a suicide mission if it is not nourished adequately. Why should it bother when the employer of the stepdaddy is giving him handsome salary (the taxpayer) because the employer can't fire the stepdaddy (these trade unions have five year contracts but all of them have the same shitty employees). Its another matter that the stepdaddy doesn't have money for distributing the grains to the poor family members of the employer.


Hunger list of the fatboy is long- Rs 40000 crore worth of loans outstanding, including Rs 12000crores in working capital loans, expenditure of Rs63 crore for every Rs 50 crore earned. Net Loss of Rs 5500 crore in 2009-10. And when the daddy tells it to loose some weight, it just is too lazy and unwilling to shred those precious fat cells giving warmth under the belly.


The godfather is thinking of a magic wand to make the fatboy leaner and meaner, having an IPO in the market, considering the heart whelming response in the recent PSU issues. Seeing the morale of Mr Praful Patel, we are also thinking of having an IPO of Kaleidoscope, encouraged by our potential investors' warm smiles in the farewell video. Atleast we will have a greater subscription than the NACIL.


But hey, next time, if you are planning to fly, try Air India. You will face some problems ( may be a lot of them) but there is light at the end of the dark tunnel ( or so we are made to believe). May be the baby will stop crying or atleast will stop 'leaking' on our shirts!

By- Rahul Bansal

The paradox of 'race', racism and sport

The word 'racism' has been tossed around the past few years in almost every sphere of life —ranging from politics, to the military and the world of sports — the term is used to excuse and disregard a whole host of sins. Sometimes acceptable, often not, charges of racism against minorities are almost very common today.

Sports signifies sportsmanship and brings about a strong feeling of unity. Sports can empower, influence and inspire millions.

There is a popular belief that sport is a merit based game - largely free from the damaging effects of racism. But the truth lies in the fact that more often or not, fortunately or unfortunately, these terms have been associated with each other for quite some time now.

The paradox of race, racism and sports, which started as a political issue some time back has now become a source of mind games for some against those players whose ancestors have a faced a life of misery with this sensitive issue. As early as 18^th century, when the Americans introduced the game of Golf and blacks were forced to serve as the “caddies” assumed their supremacy over the game and the Blacks, serving it as a statement for the world.

Sport provides enough evidence of racial and biological differences between white, black and Asian athletes.

During 1936 Berlin Olympics Games, Jesse Owens caused an uproar by winning four gold medals and thus eradicating Hitler’s ideas of “White Supremacy”. This historical incident not only led to Hitler’s failure to acknowledge the greatness of Owens but also resulted in US President Roosevelt refusal to invite Jesse to white House as he couldn’t afford to offend conservative voters by being seen with Owens who was by then one of the most famous black sports people. He even had to stay and eat in ‘black-only’ hotels when they travelled. The few ‘white-only’ hotels that let the African American athletes stay made them use the back door instead of the stairs and the elevator.

Racism in Sport is a problem which is manifest around the world. It has led to a wide range of controversial incidents which have been reported in the media.

Dean Jones, the former Australia Test batsman turned TV commentator, was sacked in 2006 by his employers, Ten Sports, for calling South African cricketer Hashim Amla a 'terrorist' on live television. In a twist to the controversy, Jones said that his remark was not directed at Amla but to his South African teammate Nicky Boje.

Broadcaster Kelly Tilghman was suspended from The Golf Channel after joking about Tiger Woods being "lynched in a back alley" during final round coverage of the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

People might just have a perception that racism is prevalent only in sports where Western countries seem to dominate but the facts contradict this argument. It is as prevalent in other sports like cricket, golf and athletics.

Racism is also seen as something that comes with the cultural background of the sportsperson. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was jeered by the crowds wearing blackface and chanting nasty comments at him in Spain, a country known for its racism intolerance.

Some movies like Goal and Bend It Like Beckham have emphasized the extent of racism in sports. Derogatory terms are generally used to entice players resulting in a number of mishaps on the field. Agitated and offended players often get engulfed into a brawl resulting in a much affected match.

The governing bodies of some sports have implemented specific policies to control racism however in some countries and competitions racism in sport continues to be a significant human rights issue.

The scenario of the Sports industry is under going a much awaited transformation. A perfect example to support this line of thought is IPL that is taking place every year. Players from various backgrounds come together for only one cause, and that is to win the IPL trophy. These matches broke all notions of sports and racism that had crippled the minds of players and audiences for so many years. Pakistani player cheered for their Indian teammate while the Australians backed up their English counterparts. The matches enabled the world to be concised to something as small as the “Kolkata Knight Rider or “The Delhi Daredevils”

The just concluded Football World Cup in South Africa provided an opportunity both to take a fresh look at the issue of racism in sport, and to enhance sport's tremendous potential to undermine racism, xenophobia9racial intolerance) and similar forms of intolerance in wider society.

In many sporting nations across the world, a sport is akin to a religion. People who can’t understand each other due to linguistic differences still share a love for the same sport. It is for this reason that the fight against racism must triumph, that the love for sport doesn’t diminish.

-By:Rishabh Kant