The Supreme Court on Wednesday advised the government to constitute a committee to suggest ways to deal with increasing cheque bounce cases which form some 30-40 percent of cases pending in courts.
The three-judge bench headed by CJI S.A. Bobde was hearing a suo motu case on fast resolution of cheque bounce cases when it said the Central government should enable additional courts to deal with the very high number of such cases.
The bench said that having regard to the importance of the matter for the administration of justice of various states, the bench is of the view that High Courts through their registrar general and states/ Union Territories through their DGPs shall submit a response within four weeks.
The bench also comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat referred to an order of October 27, 2020 and said all DGs of Police were directed to file their reports before the Apex Court with regard to a summons and other issues, but so far only 7 DGPs of various states had filed their responses.
The bench was considering guidelines to be issued for expeditious disposal of cheque bounce cases punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Over 35 lakh cheque bounce cases were pending in various courts across the country, the apex court has found earlier.
Bounce-March-3