Tanvi Sinha
The Supreme Court sent a notice to the Centre on creating new special courts that would exclusively handle cheque bounce cases as it contemplated ways to reduce clogging of the judicial dock by such cases.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice S Ravindra Bhat asked the Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee to tell them the position of the Centre on the issue.
The issue came up during the hearing of a Suo moto case that was registered in March 2020, where the Court was debating on if the disposal of cheque bounce cases would be considered punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The Suo Moto case had amicus curiae as senior advocate Sidharth Luthra and advocate K Parmeshwar, the former who has also been consulting the courts as amicus curiae on other Suo Moto cases regarding rules on criminal practices.
The Amicus Curiae for this case had prepared a report highlighting the provisions that need to be taken to help the situation, one of which spoke of adding extra courts, which the Top Court took cognizance of.
The ASG has told the court that the centre would require some time to discuss the issue but would give some inputs by the next hearing that is set for March 3rd.