Order on Board

08/12/2016

1. The present petition under Section 482 CrPC has been filed seeking a limited prayer for a direction to the court below i.e. Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Bilaspur, to conclude trial in Complaint Case No.4664 of

2015 as expeditiously as possible within a fixed time schedule.

2. Counsel for the petitioner submits that it is a case where the petitioner had filed a complaint on 07.05.2015 before the court below under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act (for short, NI Act). Subsequently, the charge was framed on 14.03.2016. Thereafter, the matter has been adjourned for almost 11 dates of hearing for the evidence of applicant. Those are 07.05.2016, 25.05.2016, 14.06.2016, 27.06.2016, 13.07.2016, 06.08.2016 09.09.2016, 15.09.2016, 28.09.2016, 03.10.2016 and 25.10.2016. However, on some or the reasons the case was getting adjourned.

3. According to counsel for the petitioner, as per Section 143 NI Act, the proceedings in a complaint case under Section 138 NI Act is a summary trial and the court below was supposed to conclude trial within a maximum period of 6 months, but for some reason or the other, the matter was getting adjourned due to frivolous applications being moved by the respondent which is nothing but misuse of process of law as also misuse of court.

4. Counsel for the petitioner brought attention of the court to the judgment of Supreme Court in case of Indian Bank Association and Others Vs. Union of India and Others, reported in 2014 (5) SCC 590. Referring to paragraph 4 of said judgment, it was submitted that the insertion of Section 143 in the NI Act was with an intention for an expeditious trial of a proceeding drawn under Section 138 NI Act. He took the court through paragraph 11 of the said judgment which deals with the object and reasons for the amendment to be brought under the provisions of NI Act. For ready reference, paragraph 11 of the judgment reads as under :

“11. We have indicated, Sections 138 to 142 of the Act were found to be deficient in dealing with the dishonoured cheques. In the said circumstances, the legislature inserted new Sections 143 to 147 by the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2002, which is brought into force w.e.f. 6th February, 2003. The object and reasons for the said Amendment Act are of some importance and are given below :-

“1.The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 was amended by the Banking, Public Financial Institutions and Negotiable Instruments Laws (Amendment) Act, 1988 wherein a new Chapter XVII was incorporated for penalties in case of dishonour of cheques due to insufficiency of funds in the account of the drawer of the cheque. These provisions were incorporated with a view to encourage the culture of use of cheques and enhancing the credibility of the instrument. The existing provisions in the Negotiable Instruments Act,1881, namely, sections 138 to 142 in Chapter XVII have been found deficient in dealing with dishonour of cheques. Not only the punishment provided in the Act has proved to be inadequate, the procedure prescribed for the Courts to deal with such matters has been found to be cumbersome. The Courts are unable to dispose of such cases expeditiously in a time bound manner in view of the procedure contained in the Act.

2. A large number of cases are reported to be pending under sections 138 to 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act in various courts in the country. Keeping in view the large number of complaints under the said Act pending in various courts, a Working Group was constituted to review section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 and make recommendations as to what changes were needed to effectively achieve the purpose of that section.

3. The recommendations of the Working Group along with other representations from various institutions and organisations were examined by the Government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and other legal experts, and a Bill, namely, the Negotia