Set up pilot courts to deal with cheque bounce cases, orders Supreme Court

Supreme court orders establishment of pilot courts presided over by retired judges in five districts of five states that have the highest pendency of cheque bounce cases

In a bid to reduce the pendency of cheque bounce cases under Section 138 of the the Negotiable Instruments Act, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the establishment of pilot courts presided over by retired judges in five districts of five states that have the highest pendency, i.e., Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.

A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and S Ravindra Bhat said that it has accepted suggestions made by amicus Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra on establishments of pilot courts.

The Supreme Court bench passed the verdict after the apex court took suo moto cognizance of the humongous pendency of cheque bounce cases in March 2020. 

In the order, the bench said, "We have incorporated the suggestions of the amicus with respect to the setting up of the pilot courts and we have given the timelines also. It is to begin on September 1,2022 onwards. The secretary general of this court shall ensure that a copy of the present order is directly communicated to the registrar general of the said five high courts, which should put it before the chief justices for immediate action."

The apex court directed its secretary general to communicate the order to the registrar general of the high courts of these states while directing them to file an affidavit by July 21, 2022 on compliance. Cheque bounce cases as of December 31, 2019, stood at 35.16 lakh out of a total of 2.31 crore pending criminal cases in the country.

The amicus had suggested having one court in one district with a retired judge as a pilot project.

The matter will now be heard on July 26.

A report by amicus stated, "It is thus suggested that the High Courts must employ the services of retired judicial officers for this purpose. The human resources required to operationalise these courts could also be drawn from retired court staff. This scheme could be tested on a pilot basis in 5 judicial districts with the highest pendency in the 5 states with the highest pendency (namely, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh) and the viability of utilising services of retired judicial officers can be examined based on the results of the pilot study," quoted Live Law.

(With inputs from PTI)