Supreme Court of India has passed new guidelines on Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 2 OF 2020 by a Bench of three Judges, consisting of the Chief Justice of India S. A. BOBDE, L. Nageswara Rao, Justice and S. Ravindra Bhat, Justice. All these guidelines are thoroughly explained one by one in this article. But for that first we need to look at all the issues which were raised before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India regarding Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881. The following 7 major issues were raised:
- Service of summons
- Statutory amendment to Section 219 of the Code
- Summary trials
- Attachment of bank accounts
- Applicability of Section 202 of the Code
- Mediation
- Inherent jurisdiction of the Magistrate
In this case, Supreme Court of India asked for recommendations from various High Courts and Directors General of Police, out of which 14 High Courts and 7 D.G.P.(s) already forwarded their views to the Supreme Court of India.
Understand these guidelines in detail by watching this video:
The main purposes behind these guidelines were:
- Speedy and expeditious trail of cases under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881.
- Reduce the burden of around 35 Lakh pending cases.
- To Consolidate Several Offence related to Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 in one trail.
You can read the complete Supreme Court of India Judgement here: