Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 – s.138 – Supreme Court had issued various directions with respect to conduct of trials of complaints u/s.138 – Expert Committee was constituted to consider suggestions with respect to streamlining the procedure of arresting the judicial docket, in regard to complaints and trials for offences under the NI Act – The Expert Committee suggested creation of de novo Special NI Courts by the Central Government to tackle the problem of docket explosion – The amici curiae however urged, that the suggestion of creation of special courts with the proposed staffing pattern may not be feasible or practical, as it would not be possible to immediately establish denovo courts and recruit fresh candidates and support staff – It was urged by the amici curiae that the option of appointing retired judicial / administrative officers who have worked and discharged quasi-judicial functions as Special Judicial / Metropolitan Magistrates for a fixed pay be explored – Amici curiae suggested a pilot study to test the scheme of employing retired judicial officers and retired court staff to operationalise the Special Courts under the NI Act in 5 judicial districts with the highest pendency in the 5 states with the highest pendency (namely, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh) – Having considered the suggestions made by the amici, Supreme Court directed a pilot study to be conducted in the manner indicated – Guidelines covering the pilot study, under various headings, delineated.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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