Jemima Rohekar, New Delhi: Did you know that in most probability your bank is eating away the interest that you deserve? And it’s done by clearing your cheque late.

That’s the claim of an advocate in Delhi.

Deposit a cheque with your bank today. But expect it to be encashed after 2 to 3 days. After all, it's common knowledge that a local cheque takes upto 3 days and an outstation one takes about a week’s time to get it cleared and reflect in your account.

But this in itself is a violation, thinks Atul Nanda - an advocate - who filed a petition in the national consumer court in 2006, against the clearance policy of banks for cheques upto Rs 15, 000.

"Ask all commercial banks if it's their policy to credit on the same day, the answer is yes. But I put a question to all viewers, to go and check their passbooks to see if it happened on the same day and the answer will be no,” said Petitioner Atul Nanda.

According to his petition, nearly 13,000 lakh cheques are cleared every year.

Even if banks enjoy just 50 per cent of the entire cheque amount as floating funds, a 4 per cent interest on it per annum amounts to Rs 621 crore per day. And most of the cheques issued are upto Rs 15, 000.