A draws a bill on 25th October, 2021 for 90 days and accepted the maturity date of the bill will be :

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 2:
The correct maturity date is determined by first calculating the nominal due date and then applying the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act, which governs Bills of Exchange. To find the nominal due date, we count 90 days from the date of drawing, 25th October, 2021 (excluding the date of drawing). The balance of days for October is 6 (31-25), plus 30 days in November, and 31 days in December, totalling 67 days. The remaining days (90 - 67 = 23 days) fall in January, making the nominal due date 23rd January, 2022. The Act then mandates the addition of three 'days of grace' to the nominal due date, which shifts the final legal due date to 26th January, 2022. Crucially, 26th January is a gazetted public holiday (Republic Day), and the law states that when the due date falls on such a holiday, the bill's maturity date is the immediately preceding business day, which is 25th January, 2022.

The incorrect option is 1:
The option '27th January, 2022' is incorrect. This date would only be the maturity date if the due date fell on a non-gazetted holiday (like an emergency holiday) or a Sunday, in which case the *succeeding* business day is the due date. For a clearly known, declared public holiday like 26th January, the Negotiable Instruments Act specifically requires the maturity date to be the *preceding* business day. Therefore, advancing the date by one day beyond the preceding day is a misapplication of the holiday rule.

The incorrect option is 3:
The option '26th January, 2022' is incorrect because it does not account for the legal provision regarding public holidays. Although 26th January is the date calculated after correctly adding the three days of grace to the nominal due date (23rd January, 2022), it is a major, fixed public holiday. According to Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, if the date of maturity is a public holiday, the instrument becomes due on the next preceding business day. Failing to make this final adjustment leads to an incorrect final maturity date.

The incorrect option is 4:
The option '23rd January, 2022' is incorrect. This date is the *nominal* due date, which is simply the 90th day counted from the date of drawing the bill. It omits the essential step of adding the three statutory 'days of grace' which is mandatory for calculating the legal maturity date of a Bill of Exchange. This three-day grace period is a legal convention and must always be included to find the initial legal due date before checking for holidays.