Over 8,000 cheque bounce cases have been disposed of in Tamil Nadu in 2019, with settlement totalling ₹208.39 crore, according to data provided in Parliament.
A total of 61,384 cases were taken up, of which 8,287 cases were disposed during January-December 2019 by National Lok Adalats organised by National Legal Services Authority of India, Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minster of State for Finance, recently told the Rajya Sabha said in a written reply.
Mr. Singh was responding to a question raised by Ram Vichar Netam (BJP) on the cheque bounce cases.
The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, was passed by Parliament and received the President’s assent on August 2, 2018.
Undue delay
The Act addresses the issue of undue delay in final resolution of cheque bounce cases, with an object to provide substantial relief to payees of dishonoured cheques and discourage frivolous and unnecessary litigation with respect to cheque dishonour cases, which would save time and money, the Minister said.
The Act provides for an interim compensation of a sum not exceeding 20% of the amount of the cheque to the payee at the trial stage. The Appellate Court may order the appellant to deposit such sum which shall be a minimum of 20% of the fine or compensation awarded by the trial court, he added.
Reducing pendency
Mr. Thakur pointed out that in order to reduce the pendency of cases in the courts, the legal services institutions under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, organise weekly / monthly and also Mega Lok Adalats.
In addition to this, National Lok Adalats were held from taluk to Supreme Court level to reduce the pendency of cases, he added.
