With over 38 lakh cases of cheque bouncing pending in the country, the Law Commission has recommended the setting up of fast track courts to solve the “perennial problem”.
“The central and state governments must provide necessary funds to meet expenditure involved in the creation of fast track courts, supporting staff and other expenditure,” the commission said in its 213th report submitted to the government last week.
The recommendations are in tune with the suggestion of Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan who favoured creation of separate courts to deal with dishonour of cheque cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The CJI had said: “Speedy disposal of dishonour of cheque cases would improve the economic system of the country by increasing the flow of money.”
The commission, whose recommendations are not binding in nature, said, the present system of criminal jurisprudence was destined to fail if the backlog of cases was not substantially reduced.
Maintaining that litigating through courts was just one way of resolving the disputes, the Commission also suggested the use of alternative disputes resolution mechanisms such as negotiations, conciliation and mediation, in which nobody was a loser and all the parties felt satisfied at the end of the day.