91-year-Old awarded PhD in ‘Study of Judicial Verdicts in Cheque Dishonour Cases’

         Shri S. Mohammed Miskeen, 91,  C.A by profession based out of  Tiruvarur, received his Ph.D. degree, at the Bharathidasan University convocation recently.

         Shri Miskeen was fascinated with cheque bouncing cases in his avatar as Founder of ‘R A College, Tiruvarur’.

         He came across such cases too in his professional life as a practicing Chartered Accountant.

The District of Tiruvarur was carved out as a separate district by detaching Valangaiman Taluk from Thanjavur District and Thiruvarur, Nannilam, Kudavasal, Needamangalam, Mannargudi, Thirutturaippundi Taluks from Nagappatinam District on 01.01.1997.

         Shri Miskeen’s curiosity encouraged him to do more research on the causes of cheques dishonour and the ramifications of a bounced cheque.

         To formalise his research, Shri Miskeen decided to do a PhD in ‘cheque dishonour’.

         Shri Miskeen commenced his PhD thesis in  2014 under the guidance of Dr. Issac Francis Gnanasekar from St. Jospeh’s college, Trichy.

The time frame to complete the thesis was 6 years.

However, Shri Miskeen could complete the PhD process in 5 years and Bharathidasan University awarded him PhD for his path-breaking work in ‘cheque bouncing’.

The research study is aptly named‘An analytical study of judicial verdicts in cheque dishonour cases and on their impact on offenders under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.’

Over the last 5 years, Shri Miskeen analysed close to 400 cases from Supreme Court and High Court judgements, all of which have been covered in his thesis.

The research also explains topics such as cheque dishonouring, when is a cheque is dishonoured and when is an offence committed.

On analysing more than 400 cases about cheque dishonour, Shri Miskeen has two suggestions for the government.

Suggestion 01) The first is that the Negotiable Instruments Act of 1881 should be amended to avoid sending people to jail for failing to repay their debt or loan amount or when even one cheque out of a series of cheques bounces during encashment.

“More than 50% of the population in India live below the poverty line. Sometimes, they may be unable to repay their debt due to some unforeseen circumstances. In such cases, the Act should be amended,” said Miskeen.

         Suggestion 02) This is to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - to create a registry of accounts whose cheques are bounced on a regular basis and provide a mechanism to freeze such accounts for defaulting on payments.

          

Additional Reading links:

Cheque-bounce victim? Now, this law provides big relief to you, thanks to Supreme Court @ https://www.zeebiz.com/personal-finance/news-cheque-bounce-victim-now-this-law-provides-big-relief-to-you-thanks-to-supreme-court-100957

Supreme  Court Judgments @   https://sci.gov.in/judgments with key word as ‘Cheque”

Nonagenarian receives Ph.D. degree @ https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/nonagenarian-receives-phd-degree/article29581918.ece