The Apex Court expressed its prima facie view that the Central Government also owes a duty under Article 247 of Indian Constitution to create additional courts for effective administration of laws made by Parliament.
The bench was of the opinion that the power under the said article is coupled with a duty on part of Central Government to direct establishment of additional courts.
According to the Article 247, the Parliament is bestowed with the power to give orders regarding establishment of additional courts w.r.t. to the matters enlisted under the Union List.
This prima facie view of the bench had been observed in a suo moto case taken up to formulate measures in order to expedite the trails conducted under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments act which deal with cheque bounce cases.
The apex court took suo moto cognizance as dishonour of cheques form part of nearly 30% of the pending cases at the stage of trail.
Earlier, when the Central Government sought views of Central Government on this issue, the Additional Solicitor General submitted a note along with the alternative measures to deal with the said issue.
The Supreme Court, however, was not in favour of incorporating the suggestions made by Union Ministry of Finance.
The bench passed an order and stated that it would constitute a committee comprising of the Secretaries belonging to different Ministries to study the issue. The said committee would be presided by retired judge who possesses wide knowledge regarding the trail matters.
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