The Delhi High Court has resolved a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) addressing the backlog of cheque bouncing complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, in the North District’s Digital Courts.
A division bench, of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora, dismissed the PIL which also sought regulations for proper connectivity of judges with the Layers portal and shorter hearing dates for pending complaints.
The plea, filed by Jagriti Jain, highlighted that the North District’s sole Digital NI Act Court was overwhelmed with over 8,000 pending cases.
The counsel for the respondents included Mr. Udit Malik, ASC for GNCTD with Mr. Vishal Chanda, Ms. Rupali Bandhopadhya, CGSC with Mr. Abhijeet Kumar and Mr. Sagar Mehlawat, and Ms. Jyotsna Bhuchar for the UOI.
The plea pointed out connectivity issues with the Layers portal, which hindered the hearings, and noted that the next hearing dates were sometimes scheduled as far as 10 months away.
The Delhi Court’s Registrar General responded by informing that an additional Digital Court has been established in the North District to manage the caseload. The existing cases have been evenly distributed between the two courts, and the connectivity issues have been addressed.
With these measures in place, the petitioner’s counsel, Mr. Parthesh Bhardwaj, acknowledged that the PIL’s concerns were resolved and requested its disposal.
In consideration, it was noted that, “Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that he is aware of the aforesaid measures taken by the Respondents and submits that in view of the aforesaid steps taken, the prayers in this petition stand satisfied and prays for the disposal of the petition.
Accordingly, the present petition was disposed of as satisfied.
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