Appointing Retired Judges To Clear Cheque Bounce Cases : Supreme Court Seeks Views Of Centre, States & HCs [Read Amicus Report]

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Union of India, the State Governments and the High Courts to respond to the suggestion of constituting Special Magistrate Courts with retired judicial officers for faster disposal of cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. On being informed by Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra that the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have the highest number of pending cheque bounces cases, the Court sought the responses of the High Courts of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Allahabad and Delhi about the proposal of launching a pilot project of Special Courts with retired Magistrates in 5 districts.A Bench comprising Justice Nageswara Rao, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Ravindra Bhat was considering the suo motu case In Re Expeditious Trial Of Cases Under Section 138 of N.I Act which was initiated last year.The Amicus submitted that these Special Magistrate Courts can be constituted invoking powers under Section 18 read with S.13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.The Expert Committee headed by Justice R. C. Chavan (Former Judge, Bombay High Court) appointed by the Court through its order dated 4th March 2021, to submit a report specifying steps to be taken for early disposal of cases under the Negotiable Instruments Act, had also suggeted the constitution of special courts.The Expert Committee had submitted that as per its calculations, the establishment of these special NI Courts may require recruitment of 1,826 special judicial officers and a total cost of Rs 126.59 crores.The committee therefore proposed that since it may not be immediately feasible to establish de novo courts and recruit fresh candidates, it may be helpful to examine the possibility of appointing retired judicial officers as Special Judicial/Metropolitan Magistrates.The report submitted by Amicus stated as follows :"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".According to the amicus report, a total number of 33,44,290 cheque bounce cases are pending in the Country.Besides the scheme of special NI Courts, the Bench directed the Centre, States and the High Courts to respond with suggestions to the following proposal of the Committee & suggestions of the Amicus:National Portal for Summons: The suggestion is to create national portal for secured display of summonses, searchable by account number/name may be createdPre- Summons Mediation: The Committee has suggested that Alternative Dispute Resolution options must be explored, and has proposed a statutory amendment to Section 144 of the NI Act for attempting mediation. The Amicus however suggested that post summons mediation would be more favourable as the pre summons mediation may lead to unnecessary delays. The Bench further noted that there has been non compliance by some High Courts with court's order dated 16th April 2021 directing High Courts to issue practice directions to the Magistrates to record reasons before converting trial of complaints under Section 138 of the Act from summary trial to summons trial.The Bench asked the High Courts of Madras, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Patna & Orissa which haven't complied with the directions to comply with order expeditiously without any further delay.The Bench also sought the response of Union, States and the Indian Banks Association to the proposal of closing cheque cases where the amount is less than a certain limit.Courtroom Exchange: During the hearing, the Amicus Mr Luthra informed the case that there has been a disturbing increase in the number of pending cases.The Bench observed that a greater analysis of pendency may be required to be done, with analysis of the number of cases disposed of in the last few years.With regard to the Committee's suggestion of having a national portal for secured display of summonses, searchable by account number/name, Mr.Luthra informed that it would enable a person whose cheque has bounced to check if some summons has been issued.Responding to the court's statement as to how the portal may not prevent evasion of summons, Mr Luthra submitted that "Evading summons is not a complicated issue in this country, avoiding notice is also not unknown"The Bench submitted that all the all problems that may happen need to be considered before a decision is taken. The bench asked the Amicus to come up with a pilot project, following which the suggestions of the Union of India can be taken in this regard.Additional Solicitor General SV...

Appointing Retired Judges To Clear Cheque Bounce Cases : Supreme Court Seeks Views Of Centre, States & HCs [Read Amicus Report]

Srishti Ojha

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