Delhi High Court Closes PIL On Pendency Of Cheque Bouncing Complaints In North District

The Delhi High Court has disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue of pendency of the cheque bouncing complaints filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, in the Digital Courts in city's North District.

A division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora closed the PIL which also sought framing of regulations regarding proper connectivity of judges with Layers portal and for shorter dates in complaints listed at the stage of consideration in Digital Courts, North District.

The plea, filed by one Jagriti Jain, stated that since only one Digital NI Act Court is designated in the North District, the pendency of the cases is abnormally high with more than 8000 matters pending.

Jain contended that the Digital NI Act Court in the district was facing connectivity issues with the Layers portal which hampers the hearing of the matters.

It was also submitted that due to heavy pendency, the next date fixed in the cases is sometimes as long as 10 months.

The response filed by Delhi High Court's Registrar General stated that for rationalizing the number of cases being heard by the Digital NI Act Court, another Digital Court has been created in the North District.

It was stated that the existing matters have been equally divided between the two Digital NI Act Courts and the network and connectivity issue has been effectively resolved.

Jain's counsel then submitted that the prayers in the PIL stood satisfied and prayed for its disposal.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. Parthesh Bhardwaj, Advocate

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. Udit Malik, ASC for GNCTD with Mr. Vishal Chanda, Advocate for R-1 & R-2; Ms. Rupali Bandhopadhya, CGSC with Mr. Abhijeet Kumar and Mr. Sagar Mehlawat, Advocates for R-3; Ms. Jyotsna Bhuchar, Advocate for UOI

Title: JAGRITI JAIN v. PRINCIPAL DISTRICT AND SESSION JUDGE - NORTH & ORS.

Click here to read order