As lakhs of dishonour of cheque cases await disposal in district courts across India, the Supreme Court has issued fresh guidelines to reduce the ‘staggeringly high’ backlog of such cases.

As on September 1, the pendency of dishonour of cheque cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument (NI) Act in Delhi district courts stood at 6,50,283, followed by Mumbai district courts (1,17,190) and Calcutta district courts (2,65,985).

“This pendency is putting an unprecedented strain on the judicial system as in some states; cases under Section 138 of the NI Act constitute nearly fifty per cent (50%) of the pendency in Trial Court (in Delhi Section 138 NI Act cases constitute 49.45% of total Trial Court pendency),” a Bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice NV Anjaria lamented.

Tweaking the

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