Top court unveils new SOP on cheque disputes

Fresh directions

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court on Thursday unveiled a fresh set of directions to tackle the mounting pendency of cheque bounce cases across the country — over a million cases across Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata alone — calling for their conclusion at the threshold stage wherever possible and directing that if an accused is willing to pay the cheque amount on the very first day, the matter should be disposed of immediately, without dragging on for years.

‘Abench of justices Manmohan and NV Anjaria, while deciding a pending cheque dishonour matter, noted that despite repeated judicial interventions in the last decade, cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (NI ‘Act) continue to choke trial courts in major metropolitan cities.