TACKLING
CASES OF BOUNCING OF CHEQUES IN VARIOUS COURTS
The Government in the Department
of Justice is executing a pilot project to introduce on an experimental
basis the facility of electronic filing of complaints in courts
in Delhi in bounced cheque cases. This would facilitate a quick
access to courts.
In this connection, the Government
has decided to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The
Negotiable Instruments (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions)
Bill, 2002 has been introduced in the Lok Sabha, to this effect,
to increase the punishment as prescribed under Section 138 of
the Act from one year to two years.
The other proposed amendments intend
to increase the period for issue of notice by the payee to the
drawer from 15 days to 30 days, provide discretion to the court
to waive the period of one month, which has been prescribed for
taking cognizance of the case under the Act, and prescribe procedure
for dispensing with preliminary evidence of the complainant.
It also seeks to prescribe procedure
for servicing of summons to the accused or witness by the court
through speed post or empanelled private couriers, summary trial
for the cases to speed up disposal of cases and make the offences
under the Act compoundable.
There are 13062 cases of bouncing
of cheques pending in various court all over the country, presently.
Of these, Delhi tops the list with 5417 cases followed by Tamil
Nadu with 2320 cases, Maharashtra with 1789 cases, Karnataka with
1260 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 1254 cases, West Bengal with 138
cases, Rajasthan with 51 cases, Gujarat with 48 cases, Madhya
Pradesh with 13 cases, Uttar Pradesh with seven cases, Haryana
with four cases, Bihar with three cases, Jammu and Kashmir and
Uttaranchal two cases each, Goa and Himachal Pradesh one case
each.
The proposed amendments follow recommendations
of the various committees including the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Finance, representations from various institutions
and organizations.
