'Staggeringly High': SC Tweaks Guidelines To Reduce Backlog Of Cheque Bounce Cases

New Delhi- Expressing concern over the pendency of“staggeringly high” number of cheque bounce cases in district courts of major cities, the Supreme Court has issued fresh guidelines to reduce the backlog that included voluntary compromises and release of accused on probation.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and N V Anjaria while dealing with the cheque bounce cases where the Bombay High Court reversed the concurrent finding of the district courts to release the accused, tweaked the 15-year-old guidelines on compounding of offences under the Negotiable Instrument (NI) Act.

It said this court takes judicial notice of the fact that despite repeated directions by this court in various judgments but pendency of cheque bouncing cases under the NI Act in district courts in major metropolitan cities of India continues to be staggeringly high.

Referring to data from the National Judicial Data Grid, the bench said as on September 1, the pendency of Section 138 cases in Delhi district courts was 6,50,283, Mumbai district courts was 1,17,190, and Calcutta district courts was 2,65,985.

“This pendency is putting an unprecedented strain on the judicial system as in some States, cases under Section 138 of the NI Act constitute nearly fifty per cent of the pendency in trial court (in Delhi section 138 NI Act cases constitute 49.45 per cent of total trial court pendency),” it said.

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