Set up 25 special courts to resolve 33 lakh cheque-bounce cases: SC

NEW DELHI: As more than 33 lakh cheque bounce cases are pending in different courts and blocking judicial dockets, the Supreme Court on Thursday decided to experiment with the idea of setting up of special courts headed by retired judicial officers exclusively to deal with such cases.
As a pilot project, a bench of justices L Nageswara Rao, B R Gavai and S Ravindra Bhat directed setting up of total 25 such special courts in five districts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and UP where the pendency of the cheque bounce cases is the highest. The court said that the special courts will start functioning from September 1 for one year and the court would take a further call to expand it across the country after evaluating their one year performance. The court directed the HC of the five states to take all necessary steps in establishing the special courts by taking the services of retired judges and providing appropriate infrastructure.
“The pilot study shall be conducted in 25 special courts in total. One special court shall be established in each of the 5 judicial districts which have been identified as having the highest pendency by each of the five HCs of the states with the highest pendency of NI Act cases. For operationalising the special courts under this pilot study, retired judicial officers and retired court staff, preferably those who have retired within the past five years, may be employed,” the bench said.