In re Expeditious Trial of Cases Under Section 138 of N.I. Act 1881 (Supreme Court)
The Government legislated the Negotiable Instrument Act in 1991 making cheque bounce a criminal offence. But the delay in disposal of cases frustrated the very spirit of the NI Act. With a view to make the said Act more effective, the Government brought in the Amendment Act, 2018 for reducing the undue delay in the cases of dishonor of cheques and to provide payment of interim compensation to the complainants. Since, NI Act did not provide an effective & speedy Redressal, the people were not afraid of cheque bounce and with more incidents of cheque bounce, more complaints u/s 138 of the NI Act were filed in the Courts.
The Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in Suo Motu Writ (Criminal) No. 2 of 2020 in RE: Expeditious Trial of Cases under Section 138 OF N.I. ACT 1881 (2021) SCC Online SC 325 issued various directions for the conduct of trials of complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The Apex Court had directed the High Courts to file status reports indicating compliance with the directions contained in the said judgment and also to apprise the Courts as to whether rules were framed appropriately in line with the said judgment.
The Apex Court in it’s judgment dated 19-05-2022 expressed dismay that the pendency of cases under S 138 of the NI Act increased from 26,07,166 complaints as on 08.11.2021 to 33,44,290 complaints as on 13.04.2022 contributing almost 9% of the total criminal cases pending in the various courts.
The Court on suggestion of the amici curiae directed employing retired judicial officers and retired court staff to establish the Special Courts under the NI Act in 5 judicial districts with the highest pendency in the 5 states with the highest pendency i.e. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
The Court issued guidelines covering the pilot study shall be as under:
“Duration of Study: The pilot study shall be conducted for a duration of 1 year from 01.09.2022 to 31.08.2023.
