Bank processes cheque of deceased person

Thank you sir, one more thing I wanted to let you know is that the signature on the cheque was of my Father's and the date written on the cheque is also dated after my father demise .

 

Let me know if this will make my case any stronger

Consumer court will entertain only civil cases. This also has a criminal aspect as the date on the cheque is after your father's death. If the person who dated the cheque had knowledge of your father's death, then it is also forgery. You can file a criminal case against the person in whose favour the cheque was drawn.

According to my opinion the bank is right in processing the chq signed by your father. Your mother being joint holder ought to have issued notice to the bank not to honor the chq. The bank is not bound to accept your instructions as you are third party. 

 

But Sir My Mother have only sent the email from her own email Id and it was not sent from me, although we did not received any official acknowledgement from the Bank and also wanted to let you know that ATM of the account was also blocked as a result of infoming them about my Father's demise.

 

One thing which is seriously in question is the signature on the cheque was of my Father and date written was later than my Father's demise.

In case of joint accounts, the surivor should intimate the death in writing with such death certificate and bak is expected to acknowledge and stop further transactions.  However date of the cheque is more important as those cheques issued prior to his death and date of acknowledgment is most important.  The purpose of the cheque payment is also a valid point to be taken into consideration.

Register a complaint in on line bank.

Wait for a month, post this as complaint in on line Ombudsman.

Wait for the response and let the banker commit something in writing before Banking Ombudsman.

After getting all documents like intimation of death and such delivery copy of the email and Bankers writing in response, then approach Consumer forum.

All these steps must be through your mother alone and may not cost you a rupee as all these are on line activities.

The Jt. Account holder should have informed the Bank of the demise of the other account holder, prior to the encashment of the cheque signed by the demised account holder. In such event the Bank is at fault and should make good the loss.

Who is this person? Did your late father owe him the payment?

My Father knows him but we don't know regarding any debt my Father owed him

There are many blanks in the narration of the case. Until the blanks are filled up many half-truths remain. When a genuine cheque is issued, bank has no option but to honour cheque. When the bank reliably knows that the one who issued cheque is dead, it cannot honour the cheque. There are many judgments regarding the authority of emails. But is there a laid down law, like Section 25 of the General Clauses Act for Registered letters, that an email is on its own authentic for these purposes?. Even if an email is authentic the time gap between the sending of email and payment of the cheque is important. Sometimes cheques get paid through oversight of the concerned staff. If the bank accepts the fault, it will pay the amount to the person entitled to receive it and recover it from the salary of the staff, who was at fault. Anyway nothing can be said until all details are known. Even when all details are known there will be options to be exercised.

However, there is another perspective: your father had issued money to a person to whom, possibly, he owed the money. Why should this be of concern unless, of course, some element of fraud or dishonesty involved? In other words, other the matter of procedure, is there any substansive issue involved?

Thank you all for your suggestions. One update I wanted to share - I have talked with Bank manager yesterday and told him about the intimation through email. He said that email is not acceptable way of notifying about the demise, we are required to send registered letter. We have sent the email enclosed with death certificate of my father almost two months before the cheque withdrawn. It is bank's fault that they didn't acknowledged the email. My concern is how I am supposed to know that email is not a valid way of communicating the only other option which I had was to personally visit the home branch but couldn't as it is located to a different state from where I am presently staying. Was sending an email was mistake from our side and make the case weaker

Members can only presume things from a brief post.  You have received guidance running two full pages.  Members cannot decide or judge the issue.  If you think that Bank is at fault proceed against the bank through Grievance redressal process online and many members offered several steps.  Take guidane and consult a local advocate and proceed further.  Remember members can never judge or assure any outcome.  Your complaint depends on facts, Bankers response and the decision of competent authority like Ombudsman, Forum or Civil case..  Read all the posts carefully, none of the members supported bank and only suggested remedies against the bank.

The post of Adv. Venu is pertinent.  If your father really owed the amount to the payee of the cheque or holder in due course, it will be better to close the case. Ombudsman and courts are overloaded with many cases.