File status reports on steps taken to increase disposal of cheque bounce cases: SC to states, UTs

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all the states and union territories to file status reports on the steps taken to augment the disposal of cheque bounce cases.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing a suo motu matter concerning expeditious trial of cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act, 1881.

Section 138 of the Act deals with dishonour of cheque for insufficiency, etc of funds in the account.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, referred to the apex court's May 2022 order which, as a pilot study, directed the constitution of 25 special courts with retired judicial officers in five states for expeditious disposal of these cases.

"We have to see whether the pilot project is working or not," Luthra said.

He said he has filed an application in the matter.

"We want a status report setting out the steps taken to increase disposal... data as regards vacancies and appointments," he said.

The bench directed all the states, union territories and registrar general of the high courts to provide the necessary status reports within six weeks.

It posted the matter after six weeks.

In its May 2022 order, the top court said the special courts under the NI Act would be set up in Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in view of a large number of pending cases.

"The pilot study shall be conducted in 25 special courts in total. One special court shall be established in each of the five judicial districts which have been identified as having the highest pendency by each of the five high courts of the states with the highest pendency of NI Act cases," it said.

It said for operationalising the special courts under this pilot study, retired judicial officers and retired court staff, preferably those who had retired within the past five years, may be employed.

The top court said the concerned high court shall ensure that no vacancy arises, during this period.

It said the pilot study be conducted for a duration of one year from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023.

It said the special courts shall adjudicate upon only those cases in which summons were duly served and the accused had entered appearance through a lawyer or in person.

Earlier, the apex court come out with a slew of directions to ensure speedy disposal of cheque bounce cases across the country and asked the Centre to amend laws to ensure clubbing of trials in such cases if they were lodged against a person within a year related to the same transaction.

The top court in March 2020 had taken cognisance of the humongous pendency of cheque bounce cases and had come out with the directions to ensure speedy disposal of such matters, which stood at 35.16 lakh as of December 31, 2019, out of a total of 2.31 crore pending criminal cases in the country.

On March 5, 2020, the top court registered a suo motu case and decided to evolve a "concerted" and "coordinated" mechanism for expeditious disposal of such cases. PTI ABA ABA AMK AMK