By IANS,
New Delhi : In a bid to reduce the increasing backlog of cases relating to dishonoured cheques, Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishnan inaugurated three evening courts in the capital Wednesday.
Balakrishnan expressed concern over the large number of such cases in Delhi and hoped that the concept of evening courts would help address the problem.
“These petty cases pose a great hurdle in justice delivery system. It is disappointing to have a pendency of over 500,000 such cases in Delhi alone,” he said while inaugurating the evening courts here.
He stressed that courts should not become collecting agents of money lenders and referred to Bangalore, where 7,000 cheque dishonour cases were filed in a day.
Balakrishnan also said that 160 additional posts were being created in the lower judiciary to clear a large number of pending cases.
Delhi High Court Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah said that of the 900,000 pending cases in the magistrate’s courts here till October, more than 500,000 were related to bounced cheques, virtually chocking the system.
Three evening courts started functioning Wednesday from the Patiala House Courts and the Karkardooma Court complex for two hours from 5 p.m. to 7 pm.
The courts would initially deal with those cases where the cheque amount is upto Rs.25,000 and the complainant is a financial institution.
Evening courts were first mooted in the 125th report of the Law Commission and again recommended during the Conference of Chief Justices held in April, 2007, as one of the means to deal with pending cases.