Suo motu case on Cheque Bouncing: Supreme Court seeks reply of all High Courts on amicus curiae preliminary report

In the suo motu case concerning Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (NI Act), which deals with cheque bouncing, the Supreme Court today directed that the preliminary report of the Amicus Curiae be served on all High Courts..A two-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao has sought replies from the High Courts on this report..In March this year, the Court registered a suo motu case with a view to evolving a mechanism to ensure that cheque bouncing cases under Section 138 of the NI Act are adjudicated expeditiously..Supreme Court registers suo motu case to ensure expeditious adjudication of Cheque Bouncing cases under Section 138 NI Act.Amicus Curiae and Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra submitted that he had formulated a preliminary report along with Advocate Parameswaran Iyer, and that a reply from the High Courts on the same would be needed.Only the High Courts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Sikkim had responded to the report thus far, the Court was informed today. ."There needs to be preliminary response to our submission. Some states have a strong mechanism, but not all. The affidavits of most High Courts are prior in time, and thus they don't address the issues now."Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra.The Court thus ordered that a copy of the preliminary report be served upon all the High Courts. A reply to the same has been sought within the next four weeks. ."Issues are vital. We direct the High Courts to file a response to the preliminary report submitted by the amicus curiae. Reply needed by next date of hearing. Draft scheme by NALSA also to be served upon the High Courts."CJI SA Bobde.The Special Bench also noted that the "main hitch is service of summons by police." As a solution to this, the Court mooted,"Either we activate the Home Ministry of every state or serve it through private means.".The Bench further asked the Director General of Police (DGP) of each state to give suggestions in response to service of summons and coercive process on the accused. The DGPs are required to file their replies within the next four weeks. .The genesis of the suo motu case was an order passed by the Bench in a case of dishonour of cheques. The case had taken seven years for adjudication at the trial court stage and a total of fifteen years across various courts.This amount of judicial time was used for a case under Section 138 of the NI Act, which requires that the trial be completed summarily within six months, the Court had noted.The amendment to the NI Act that criminalised cheque dishonour, as well as the judicial pronouncements on the same, reflect that the legislative and judicial intent was for the cases to be disposed of expeditiously, the Court had added back then..More than 18 lakh cases are pending due to absence of accused. Despite provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the duty of the police to serve summons, the accused remains absent, leading to delay in the adjudication of the cases, the Court had said.