Cheque-mate: 43 lakh cheque bounce cases pending in Indian courts
cheque bounce cases are pending in various courts across the country, with Rajasthan recording the highest number—more than 6.4 lakh cases, as of December 18, Times of India has reported.
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Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal also feature among the states with significant pendency.
Cheque bounce cases, alongside traffic challans, account for a major portion of the backlog in Indian courts. While the government has introduced the option of paying traffic challans through virtual courts, cheque bounce cases continue to be heard in regular courts due to their criminal nature, involving evidence recording and witness submissions.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, in a written response to Parliament on December 20, attributed the delay in resolving cheque bounce cases to several factors. These include frequent adjournments, lack of adequate monitoring mechanisms, and the absence of a prescribed time frame for case disposal by courts.
«The disposal of cases in courts is contingent upon many factors, which include availability of physical infrastructure, supporting court staff, complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, cooperation of stakeholders viz bar, investigation agencies, witnesses and litigants & proper application of rules and procedures,» Meghwal stated, as quoted by TOI.
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