Bar Council of Delhi writes a letter to FM Nirmala Sitharaman opposing the decriminalization of Section. 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act

Bar Council of Delhi, Co-Chairman (Sanjay Rathi) issues a letter to Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance, Government of India regarding the decriminalization of provisions of existing legislation.

Sanjay Rathi, in its letter, states that “The bar Council of Delhi opposes this move of the centre's for the decriminalization of “minor economic offenses’.

The proposal of decriminalization included offenses relating to cheque bouncing i.e Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act along with other similar offenses.

In the letter, it was stated that the Bar Council of Delhi, a statutory body representing lawyers, strongly feel that move will cause more institutional damage and will not help in any way to the Government or the business. Mr. Rathi in its letter further stated that the Bar Council of Delhi is totally against the viewpoint of the central government.

Referring the Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act and 213^th Law Commission Report and the recent data, Mr. Rathi in its letter stated that “almost 20 percent of the pending litigation relates to cheque dishonor disputes u/s 138 of the NI Act i.e. up to 35 lakh cases all over the country. Decriminalizing such offenses would certainly help bring this number down but not serve its ultimate purpose. This measure would for sure result in encouraging the minds of perpetrators to defraud and cheat innocent persons and there would be absolutely no fear in the minds of people. Moreover, this would take away the confidence and legal security of the individuals in the judicial system of the country, thus rendering them helpless”.

The Government of India was requested by the Bar Council of Delhi for any amendment or enactment of the law, the statutory bodies to be consulted.

 “By decriminalizing such economic & criminal offenses of all other Acts, especially Section 138, all these sections would become nugatory, render toothless and the very purpose of enacting these Sections/Acts would be ultimately defeated.”