The Mumbai High Court recently passed a judgment to ensure speedy trials of
cases involving bouncing of cheques. One of the 18 guidelines laid down in the
judgment exempts the complainant from being present in the court provided he
files an affidavit.
Cheque bouncing cases are one of the most serious causes of concerns for the
channel and distributor community as the stakes in such cases usually run into
several lakh of rupees. The HC's decision has met with a positive response by
most resellers and their associa-tions across the country.
Umang Mehta, Spokes-person, TAIT (Trade Asso-ciation of Information
Technology), Mumbai pre-mier channel association was very optimistic about the
decision and said, “ It's a positive ruling and we welcome the decision.”
Agreeing with him, RK Malhotra, President, PCAIT (Progressive Channels
Association of Information Technology), Delhi said, “With the High Court
excusing the complainant from appear-ing in court at every hear-ing one big
impediment is removed.” But at
the same time he stated that it could be more effective if the ruling was time
bound.
“This will help speed up trials as it was not always possible for
businessmen to be present at court rulings every time. It is a positive ruling
and we do welcome it,” said VK Bhandari, President, Kolkata-based Compass.
R Sridhar, AIT (Associa-tion of Information Technology), Bangalore also
underlined the fact that the complainant can now utilize their time more
effectively.
RG Patel, President, ACMA (Ahmedabad Computer Merchants Association),
Ahmedabad how-ever, opined that apart from these measures more police
involvement would defi-nitely help in cutting down such incidences.
“Practi-cally speaking, unless there is some action taken by the police, it is
not of much help. Even if the comp-lainant is exempted from attending the court
the accused can extend the hearing of the case by being absent,” he commented.
Vinayak Naik, VP, GIBA (Goa IT Business Association), Goa stated, “It will
save us a lot of time and money.” Naik also feels that there are other issues
that need amendments from the court. Such as when a cheque bounces the receiver
of the cheque is also penalized for no fault of theirs.
DQW News Bureau Mumbai, July 21