Section 138 case management,
moved off spreadsheets.
How we built a deadline-engine for a Pune-based manufacturing distributor that had been losing recoverable cheque amounts to missed statutory windows. We mapped their manual process first, then built one system around it. Running in production for 14 months.
Spreadsheets, missed deadlines, lost recoveries.
The client distributes flooring, panels, and furniture across three branches in Western India. Roughly one in fifty of their B2B cheques bounce, usually for insufficient funds or signature mismatch.
Under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, every bounced cheque starts a strict three-stage clock:
- 1Cheque must be presented within its three-month validity.
- 2After bounce, a statutory legal notice must be sent within 30 days.
- 3If unpaid within 15 days of notice, the complaint must be filed within one month of that window closing.
Work out these dates for a case of your own with our free Section 138 limitation calculator.
Miss any of those windows and the case is legally barred. The money is gone.
Pre-engagement: the ops team tracked cases in a shared Excel sheet. In 2023 they missed four deadlines and wrote off ~₹18 lakh in recoverable amounts.
A single source of truth, with a deadline engine.
Deadline engine
Every bounced cheque triggers auto-computation of all three statutory dates. A daily cron recalculates and flags anything inside 7 days.
Daily digests + instant alerts
Admin-tunable digest at 9 AM IST listing at-risk cases by stage. Real-time email on new-case creation, fire-and-forget so it never blocks the API.
Field-level audit log
Every change is snapshotted with diffs. Roll back to any prior point. Soft-delete recycle bin with restore.
Power Automate hooks
API-key-protected endpoints for downstream flows: legal team approvals, document generation, escalations to senior partners.
Dual SSO + RBAC
Zoho OAuth for ops, Microsoft for legal counsel. Role-based access per field, so sensitive amounts stay hidden from junior staff.
Notice document generation
Statutory notice drafts auto-populated from case data. Lawyer reviews and signs in Outlook before sending: 30 minutes per notice down to 5.
Requirements first. Then six build phases.
Requirement study
- Sat with ops + legal team across three branches
- Mapped the workflow as the team actually runs it
- Identified the four 2023 misses + root causes
Schema + auth
- Postgres schema for cases, parties, notices, audit
- Zoho + Microsoft OAuth → HttpOnly JWT cookies
- First case-create UI in production
Deadline engine
- Statutory date computation (6mo / 30d / 30d)
- Daily cron + risk flags (overdue, within-7-days)
- Field-level audit log with rollback
Notifications + flows
- Microsoft Graph + Zoho Mail digest emails
- Power Automate webhook for legal approvals
- Notice template auto-fill via Word merge
Admin + UAT
- Admin panel: users, roles, reminder rules
- Recycle bin + soft delete
- User acceptance testing with the ops team
Production
- Railway deploy · single service · Postgres
- Training session for ops + legal
- First production case logged end-to-end
Case detail · live in the ops team's hands.
“They didn't just build software. They redesigned how our ops team works. We haven't missed a Section 138 deadline since launch. Every cheque we used to write off is now a recoverable asset, with a clock and an owner.”
The client sets the roadmap.
Court bundle generation
Auto-compile filings, evidence, and exhibits into a court-ready PDF bundle.
Multi-state legal templates
Jurisdictional variants for notices and filings beyond Maharashtra.
Trust accounting module
Client-fund ledger with separate compliance trail for legal fees.
Bring the process. We'll make it digital.
A 30-minute discovery call. We map the process, point out the easy wins, and outline a clear plan (no obligation).