From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: In a bid to reduce the pendency of the cheque bouncing cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered establishment of the pilot courts presided over by the retired judges in five districts of five states — Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh — having the highest backlog.
A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, Bhushan R Gavai and S Ravindra Bhat passed the direction in the suo motu case taken by the Supreme Court last year for expeditious trial. It accepted the suggestion in this regard by amicus curiae (friend of court) senior advocate Sidharth Luthra.
“We have incorporated the suggestions of the Amicus with respect to the setting up of the pilot courts and we have given the timelines also. It is to begin on 01.09.2022 onwards. The Secretary General of this court shall ensure that a copy of the present order is directly communicated to the Registrars General of the said five High Courts, whould put it before the CJs for immediate action. Compliance report to be filed on or before 21.07.2022,” Justice Ravindra Bhat read out the operative portion of the order while listing the case on 26.07.2022 to review further proceedings.
“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 (namely Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh) and the viability of utilising services of retired judicial officers can be examined based on the results of the pilot study,” the order said.
