Venkataraman said he then called SBM's head office in Mysore to complain to the managing director, but to no avail.

Following this, Venkataraman sent a mail detailing his plight to Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, with a copy marked to the SBM top brass.

Within minutes, he said, he started getting calls from the SBM managing director's office, the chief manager who had earlier refused to give her name and other officials who promised action.

'The TNEB still declines to accept the letter from SBM accepting its fault for wrongly dishonouring my cheque,' Venkataraman said. 'SBM's assistant general manager has assured me that the bank would sort out the issue by making the payment to the TNEB including the penalty.'

When contacted, the bank's assistant general manager V.R. Kolandaivelu told IANS: 'Efforts are being made so that the TNEB continues to accept cheques from him (Venkataraman). The issue will be settled.'

Agreeing that it was a slip on the bank's part not to have scanned the customer's signature, he said a decision has been taken to consult the branch office concerned before dishonouring any cheque.