It refers to Mumbai High Court rightly holding ?Stop Payment? of cheques to be punishable under section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act. Out of total 7.67 lakh pending criminal cases in Delhi, 5.15 lakh cases relate to cheque-bouncing with 4.28 lakh cases filed by financial institutions. Complete system is thus clogged mainly because of cheque-bouncing relating to EMI-instalments. It is not proper that courts may serve as recovery-agents for these financial institutions where cheque-bouncing is normal part of their business. Separate courts should be for cases relating to banks and other financial institutions towards EMI-cheques to ease out pressure on normal functioning of courts. Even court-fees of say ten-percent may be levied on such cases filed by financial institutions. System will largely ease out pressure on courts for fast disposal of other cases filed by individual and firms under section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act.
Fifty-percent amount of penalty imposable under section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act should be for judicial system, and this amount may be compulsorily charged from the accused once the case is filed, even if the cases are compromised during or outside court-proceedings. Accused may be required to furnish a bank-guarantee of the amount of bounced-cheques at first appearance. Or else they may deposit the amount in the Court till final disposal of the case. Otherwise, bank-accounts and properties of defaulters may be attached till final disposal of the case and as directed by courts. This will create required fear-psychology to make most defaulters settle the matters just after receiving the mandatory legal notice required before filing the complaint under section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act.
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL
(Guinness Record Holder for most letters in newspapers)
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba DELHI 110006 (India)
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E-mail subhashmadhu@sify.com
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