The Supreme Court on Thursday considered the creation of additional courts to exclusively hear and decide cheque bounce cases.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde said the apex court, even if additional courts were set up by the government, would still have to streamline the procedure for the conduct of these cases.
The Bench was hearing a suo motu case registered last year to evolve a “concerted” and “coordinated” mechanism for expeditious disposal of cheque cases.
The court had found that over 35 lakh cheque bounce cases were pending in various courts across the country.
It had appointed senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and advocate K. Parameshwar as amici curiae in the suo motu case.
It had sought responses from the Centre and other stakeholders, including the Reserve Bank of India.
The issue of prolonged litigation regarding dishonoured cheques came to the court’s notice when it was hearing a case dating back to 2005.
“A recent study of the pending cases, reflects pendency of more than 35 lakh, which constitutes more than 15 percent of the total criminal cases pending in district courts. Further, there is a steady increase in the docket burden,” the court said in its order in March 2020.
The court had issued notices to the Centre, the registrar general of High Courts, director generals of police, member secretary of the National Legal Services Authority, RBI, etc.
