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2022 Supreme(SC) 483

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
L. NAGESWARA RAO, B.R. GAVAI, S. RAVINDRA BHAT, JJ.
In Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases Under Section 138 of N.I. Act 1881 – Appellant
Suo Motu Writ (Criminal) No. 2 of 2020
Decided On : 19-05-2022

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
Mr. Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv (A.C) Mr. K Parameshwar, Adv (A.C) Ms. A Sregurupriya, Adv Mr. Lakshaya Mehta, Adv Mr. Rajat Mathur, Adv Mr. Anmol Kheta, Adv.
By Courts Motion, AOR Mr. V. Krishnamurthy, Sr. Adv./AAG Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR Ms. Nupur Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shobhit Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Mahara, Adv. Ms. Uttara Babbar, AOR Mr. Manan Bansal, Adv. Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal, Adv. Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Md. Apzal Ansari, Adv. Mr. Parikshit P. Angadi, Adv. Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. C. Rubavathi, Adv. Mr. Puneet Jain, Adv. Ms. Christi Jain, AOR Mr. Umang Mehta, Adv. Mr. Yogit Kamat, Adv. Mr. Mann Arora, Adv. Mr. Pai Amit, AOR Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR Mr. Aakash Nandolia, Adv. Mr. Shobhit Jain, Adv. Ms. Sagun Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Jhamba, Adv. Ms. Thonpinao Thangal, Adv. Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Ms. Garima Prasad,Sr.Adv. AAG Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR Mr. Suraj Singh,Adv. Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad, AOR Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R., AOR Mr. Suhaan Mukerji, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Parikshith, Adv. Mr. Vishal Prasad, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Manchanda, Adv. Mr. Sayandeep Pahari, Adv. Mr. Tanmay Sinha, Adv. M/s.. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR Ms. Manisha Ambwani, AOR Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, AOR Mr. Rajesh Kumar Nayak, Adv. Mr. Niranjan Sahu, Adv. Mr. Umakant Mishra, Adv. Mr. Hitesh K. Sharma, Adv. Mr. S.K. Rajora, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. S. Ashok Reddy, Adv. Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. Thomas P. Joseph, Sr. Adv. Mr. V. K. Biju, AOR Ms. Ria Sachthey, Adv. Mr. Chetanya Singh, Adv. Ms. Rubina Jawed, Adv. Mr. Ranjeet Bharti, Adv. Mr. Abhay Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Shaji George, Adv. Ms. Vijay Lakshmi, Adv. Mr. Umang Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Ashish Yadav, Adv. Mr. Rakshit Jain, Adv. Mr. Vishal Banshal, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Kurup, AOR Ms. Nidhi Mittal, Adv. Ms. Aparna Arun, Adv. Ojaswa Pathak, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Neeraj, AAG Mr. Piyush Beriwal Adv. Mr. Ankit Raj Adv. Mr. Vedansh Anand Adv. Dr. Monika Gusain AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Aviral Saxena, Adv Mr. Vikas Gothwal, Adv Mr. Vishwa Pal Singh, AOR Mr. Vikas Gothwal, Adv. Dr. Lalit Bhasin, Adv. Ms. Nina Gupta, Adv. Ms. Ruchika Joshi, Adv. Ms. Ananya Marwah, Adv. Ms. Radhika Gupta, Adv Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Soumya Chakraborty, Sr. Adv. Mr. Akash Verma, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Pathak, AOR Mr. B. V. Balaram Das, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, Adv. Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Nishant Verma, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Kumar Sinha, Adv. Mr. Simanta Kumar, Adv. Ms. Rajlakshmi Singh, Adv. Mr. Sunil Saraogi, Adv. Mr. Varun Singh, Adv. Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR Mr. S.C. Verma, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR Mr. Anvit Seemansh, Adv. Mr. Anupam Raina, AOR Mr. Sunando Raha, Adv. Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv. M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Harsh Choudhary, Adv. Ms. Jaspreet Gogia, AOR Mr. S.V. Raju, Ld. ASG Sairica Raju, Adv. Mr. S.K. Singhania, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Mehul Gupta, Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Anshuman Singh, Adv. Mr. Ankit Bhatia, Adv. Mr. Harsh Paul Singh, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal Adv. Mr. Yashvardhan, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Shukla, AOR Smita Kant, Adv. Ms. Ishita Farsaiya, Adv. Ms. Prabhleen Kaur, Adv. Ms. Kritika Nagpal, Adv. Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Adv. Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv. Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv. Mr. K.V. Girish Chowdary, Adv. Ms. Rajeswari Mukherjee, Adv. Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR Mr. Nishant Verma, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv. Mr. P.S. Negi, Adv. Mr. S.R. Kochar, Adv. Mr. K.V. Kharlyngdoh, Adv. Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, AOR Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv. Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv. Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv. Ms. Shewtal Shepal, Adv. Mr. Risvi Muhammed, Adv. Mr. S.Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Ms. Sweena Nair, Adv. Mr. P. Mohith Rao, Adv. Mr. R. Nedumaran, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Adv Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Mr. Zain A. Khan, Adv. Ms. Ekta Bharati, Adv. Ms. Aastha Shrestha, Adv. Beenu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Trivedi, AOR Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. P.H. Parekh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sameer Parekh, AOR Mr. Kshatrashal Raj, Adv. Ms. Tanya Chaudhary, Adv. Ms. Pratyusha Priyadarshini, Adv. Ms. Nitika Pandey, Adv. M/s. Parekh & Co., AOR Applicant-in-person, AOR Mr. Romy Chacko, AOR Mr. Sudesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Prashant Shrikant Kenjale, AOR Mr. Satish Pandey, AOR Mr. Akbar Ali, Adv. Mr. Manmohan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Harendra Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv. Mr. Shree Pal Singh, AOR Mr. Sharan Thakur, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Thakur, AOR Mr. Siddharth Thakur, Adv. Mr. Bishwendra Singh, Adv. Ms. Vipasha Singh, Adv. Mr. Ajay Kanojia, Adv. Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, AOR Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Shashi Pathak, Adv. Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Parth Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Sameer Parekh, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Ms. Anu K. Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv.

IMPORTANT POINT
Dishonour of cheque – Special Magistrate’s Courts for conducting trial of cases under NI Act can be constituted under Section 18 of Cr.P.C, 1973 (along with S.13, Cr.P.C) – Retired public servants, such as Tehsildars and Magistrates can be considered for appointment as Special Judicial/Metropolitan Magistrates.

Headnote:

Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 – Section 138 – Dishonour of cheque – Speedy trial of cases – Special Magistrate’s Courts for conducting trial of cases under NI Act can be constituted under Section 18 of Cr.P.C, 1973 (along with S.13, Cr.P.C) – Retired public servants, such as Tehsildars and Magistrates can be considered for appointment as Special Judicial/Metropolitan Magistrates – Retired government personnel and retired court staff could be appointed for operationalising these courts – As per data available on 08.11.2021, NI Act cases contribute to 8.81% of total criminal cases pending in courts – 11.82% of total criminal cases that are stagnating due to appearance/service related issues are NI Act cases – Pilot study shall be conducted for a duration of 1 year from 01.09.2022 to 31.08.2023 – Pilot study shall be conducted in 25 Special Courts in total – One Special Court shall be established in each of 5 judicial districts which have been identified as having highest pendency by each of five High Courts of States with highest pendency of NI Act cases – Identified judicial officers, who are to preside over Special Courts, be imparted specialised training – A four-week training programme by State Judicial Academies on topics of substantive, procedure and evidence law related to offences under NI Act shall be conducted for them – High Court concerned should ensure that Presiding Officers and court staff for operationalising Special Courts can be hired on contractual basis for one year for duration of pilot study – They be paid a fixed honorarium in accordance with their standing prior to retirement – Guidelines and directions issued. (Paras 5, 6 and 10)

Facts of the case:

By a judgment of the Constitution Bench of this Court in Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases under Section 138 of N.I. Act, 1881{(2021) SCCOnline SC 325} various directions were issued with respect to the conduct of trials of complaints under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act. This court by its subsequent order dated 31.03.2021 had required High Courts to file status reports indicating compliance with the directions contained in the judgment and as to whether rules were framed appropriately in line with the judgment. Similarly, the necessary amendments to the Police Manuals etc. had to be carried out. As on date, all High Courts except the Patna High Court have complied with the directions and proposed the amended Rules. In many states, amended rules have even been notified.

Findings of Court:

Secretary General of this Court shall ensure that a copy of the present order is directly communicated to the Registrar Generals of the said five High Courts, who shall place it before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for immediate action. To report progress and compliance, each of the said five High Courts shall file an affidavit on or before 21.07.2022.

Result : Directions issued. Matter listed for next hearing.

ORDER :

1. By a judgment of the Constitution Bench of this Court in Re: Expeditious Trial of Cases under Section 138 of N.I. Act, 1881 [(2021) SCC Online SC 325] various directions were issued with respect to the conduct of trials of complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

2. This court by its subsequent order dated 31.03.2021 had required High Courts to file status reports indicating compliance with the directions contained in the judgment and as to whether rules were framed appropriately in line with the judgment. Similarly, the necessary amendments to the Police Manuals etc. had to be carried out. As on date, all High Courts except the Patna High Court have complied with the directions and proposed the amended Rules. In many states, amended rules have even been notified.

3. On 16.04.2021, by the said judgment of the Larger Bench, an expert Committee was constituted to consider various suggestions with respect to streamlining the procedure of arresting the judicial docket, in regard to complaints and trials for offences under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The Expert Committee, by its report has suggested the creation of de novo Special NI Courts by the Central Government vide its powers under Article 247 to tackle the problem of docket explosion. The Expert Committee proposed a scheme with two grades of judges at the trial court level and two at the appellate/revision stage. According to the Expert Committee’s calculations, the establishment of these special NI Courts would require recruitment of 1,826 special judicial officers and a total cost of Rs. 126.59 crores.

4. The amici curiae urged, in the hearing that the suggestion of creation of special courts with the proposed staffing pattern may not be feasible or practical, as it would not be possible to immediately establish de novo courts and recruit fresh candidates and support staff. It was urged that the option of appointing retired judicial/administrative officers who have worked and discharged quasi-judicial functions such as retired Tehsildars, Special executive Magistrates, Registrars of Tribunals and statutory authorities and High Courts etc officers as Special Judicial/Metropolitan Magistrates for a fixed pay be explored.

5. Special Magistrate’s Courts for conducting trial of cases under the NI Act can be constituted under Section 18 of Cr.P.C. 1973 (along with S.13, Cr.P.C). There is authority for this course of action [Ref. Kadra Pahadiya vs. State of Bihar, (1997) 4 SCC 287]. Retired public servants, such as tehsildars and magistrates can be considered for appointment as Special Judicial/Metropolitan magistrates. Retired government personnel and retired court staff could be appointed for operationalising these courts.

6. The report of the Expert Committee disclosed that as on 08.11.2021, 26,07,166 complaints were pending at various stages before the Courts seized of trial of offences under the NI Act. As on 13.04.2022, this pendency has increased to 33,44,290. This is an increase in pendency of 7,37,124 cases in a period of just over 5 months. As per the data available on 08.11.2021, NI Act cases contribute to 8.81% of the total criminal cases pending in the courts. Further, 11.82% of the total criminal cases that are stagnating due to appearance/service related issues are NI Act cases.

7. The amici curiae suggest a pilot study to test the scheme of employing retired judicial officers and retired court staff to operationalise the Special Courts under the NI Act. It was suggested that this scheme could be tested on a pilot basis in 5 judicial districts with the highest pendency in the 5 states with the highest pendency (namely, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh) and the viability of utilising services of retired judicial officers can be examined based on the results of the pilot study.

8. This High Court has by its order dated 27.04.2022 directed the High Courts in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and

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