Suo motu case on Cheque Bouncing cases: Section 258 CrPC not applicable to proceedings under Section 138, Constitution Bench holds

The Supreme Court today held that Section 258 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which grants magistrates the power to stop proceedings in cases, will not apply to cheque bouncing cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881..The Constitution Bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and Ravindra Bhat passed an order to this effect in the suo motu case on expeditious disposal of cheque bouncing cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, .Section 258 in The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973Power to stop proceedings in certain cases:In any summons- case instituted otherwise than upon complaint, a Magistrate of the first class or, with the previous sanction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, any other Judicial Magistrate, may, for reasons to be recorded by him, stop the proceedings at any stage without pronouncing any judgment and where such stoppage of proceedings is made after the evidence of the principal witnesses has been recorded, pronounce a judgment of acquittal, and in any other case, release the accused, and such release shall have the effect of discharge..However, the Constitution Bench has now held that the above Section is not applicable to proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.."Section 258 of the Code is not applicable to complaints under Section 138 of the Act and findings to the contrary in Meters and Instruments (supra) do not lay down correct law. To conclusively deal with this aspect, amendment to the Act empowering the Trial Courts to reconsider/recall summons in respect of complaints under Section 138 shall be considered by the Committee constituted by an order of this Court on March 10, 2021," the judgment said. .The Court also passed the following directions:The High Courts are requested to issue practice directions to the Magistrates to record reasons before converting trial of complaints under Section 138 of the Act from summary trial to summons trial Inquiry shall be conducted on receipt of complaints under Section 138 of the Act to arrive at sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused, when such accused resides beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court. For the conduct of inquiry under Section 202 of the Code, evidence of witnesses on behalf of the complainant shall be permitted to be taken on affidavit. In suitable cases, the Magistrate can restrict the inquiry to examination of documents without insisting for examination of witnesses. Suitable amendments be made to the Act for provision of one trial against a person for multiple offences under Section 138 of the Act committed within a period of 12 months, notwithstanding the restriction in Section 219 of the Code. High Courts to issue practice directions to the Trial Courts to treat service of summons in one complaint under Section 138 forming part of a transaction, as deemed service in respect of all the complaints filed before the same court relating to dishonour of cheques issued as part of the said transaction. There is no inherent power of Trial Courts to review or recall the issue of summons..The judgment further stated that all other points, which have been raised by the Amici Curiae in their preliminary report and written submissions and not considered herein, shall be the subject matter of deliberation by the aforementioned Committee..Last month, the Constitution Bench had constituted a committee headed by former Bombay High Court judge, Justice RC Chavan to devise steps for quick disposal of cheque bouncing cases.The other members of the committee, as per the Court's order are:- Officer from the Department of Financial Services not below the rank of Additional Secretary.- Officer from Department of Justice.- Officer from the Department of Corporate affairs- Officer from the Department of expenditure- Member from the Ministry of Home Affairs- Member nominated by Governor RBI- Member nominated by IBA chairman- Member of NALSA appointed as Secretary of the committee.The Court granted Solicitor General Tushar Mehta time till March 12 to suggest names for the above posts..During a previous hearing, CJI Bobde had proposed the introduction of a temporary law to create additional courts to try cheque bouncing cases..The Court had earlier appointed Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra and Advocate K Parameshwar as amici curiae in the matter and sought reports from them.During a hearing in January this year, the Court was informed that as many as 11 High Courts had not replied to the report submitted by Luthra..[Read judgment]