Cheque signature mismatch may lead to criminal proceedings: SC

New Delhi, Dec 2: The Supreme Court has said, 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 apex court, however, said that in such cases, the account holder must be given a notice and an opportunity to arrange the payments before initiation of criminal proceedings against him.

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.