34 Digital NI Act Courts rolled out by Delhi High Court (Read Guidelines)

The Delhi High Court’s State Court Management Systems Committee (SCMSC) conceived and conceptualized the Project for establishment of Digital NI Act Court at District Courts level, on the directions of the Hon’ble Chief Justice D. N. Patel with an objective of providing hassle-free environment to the Litigants/Lawyers for filing, hearing and disposal of cheque dishonor cases and is aimed at strengthening ‘Access to Justice for all’.

Due to upsurge in commercial activities and enhanced usage of cheques as a mode of payment, complaints under Section 138 of the NI Act came to be filed in such large numbers that it became impossible for the courts to handle them within a reasonable time and it also had a highly adverse impact on the court’s normal work in ordinary criminal matters.

Delhi being the national capital and one of the leading Commercial Hub in North India witnessed huge filing of Section-138 NI Act Complaints. In the years 2018 and 2019 NCT of Delhi witnessed filing of 1,15,869 and 1,92,622 complaints respectively. Pendency of NI Act cases in District Courts in Delhi is mammoth 3,70,996 as on 30.06.2020 which constitutes more than 54% of all combined criminal cases pending in Delhi. Cheque dishonor cases constitute around 42% of all pending civil and criminal cases in Delhi.

Earlier SCMSC of the High Court tried to tackle the menace of huge pendency by bunching of similar cases. However, the situation being grim required more innovative steps and use of technology within the existing legal framework for expediting the disposal.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court in M/S Meters and Instruments v. Kanchan Mehta, AIR 2017 SC 4594, observed, “There appears to be need to consider categories of cases which can be partly or entirely concluded “online” without physical presence of the parties by simplifying procedures where seriously disputed questions are not required to be adjudicated. Traffic challans may perhaps be one such category. At least some number of Section 138 cases can be decided online”.

However, it allowed the High Courts to do the needful by saying “This is a matter to be considered by the High Courts and wherever viable, appropriate directions can be issued... It will be open to the High Courts to consider and lay down category of cases where proceedings or part thereof can be conducted online by designated courts or otherwise. The High Courts may also consider issuing any further updated directions for dealing with Section 138 cases in the light of judgments of this Court”.

Earlier this year Bench of Hon’ble Supreme Court led by CJI HMJ SA Bobde with HMJ L Nageshwara Rao in case titled Makwana Mangaldas Tulsidas v. State of Gujarat and another SLP (Criminal) No. 5464 of 2016, on 05.03.2020 issued certain directions as follows -
1. High Courts to consider setting up of Exclusive NI Act Courts.
2. Ascertain standard figures of pendency of NI Act cases in district across the State.
3. Set-up Exclusive NI Act Courts where pendency is above standard figure.
4. Formulate special norms for work assessment of Exclusive NI Act Courts.
5. Give additional weightage to Exclusive Courts which decide NI Act cases within time frame.
6. Use modern technology for making Paperless NI Act Courts.
7. Arrange for online appearance of parties in addition to exploring the feasibility of dispensing personal appearance of accused.

It is in this backdrop that Digital NI Act Courts have been established to try and dispose of all fresh NI Act complaints filed w.e.f. 17.11.2020 onwards in a totally paperless digital environment where entire case proceeding will take place by way of video conferencing.

This is one its kind project which is introducing e-filing in the criminal jurisdiction and providing for digital mode trial for the first time.

Some of the salient features of the project are enumerated herein under:

Mandatory e-Filing of NI Act Complaints- Digital NI Act Court Project would require the Complainants and their Lawyers to mandatorily e-File their complaints through e-Filing portal of e-Committee of Supreme Court of India. e-Sewa Kendra in District Courts shall have dedicated facilitation counter in respect of NI Act Cases and shall render all necessary help to the Advocates and Litigants who are unable to file their complaints from their offices/homes.

Advocates and Litigants to be provided access to Digital NI Act Files- IT Team of District Courts, Delhi shall provide for a facility whereby mirror image of e-Filed NI Act File maintained by the Digital NI Act Court can be shared with the concerned Advocates and Litigants through a dedicated, secured and non-transferrable weblink on a Drive on the cloud which can be easily accessed through internet under MyDigiFile.

Hearing of Case before Digital NI Act Court- On a scheduled date of hearing, Ld. Magistrate, Reader/Ahlmad, Court Stenographer, Litigants and their respective Lawyers can conveniently join the Digital Court Room by using only two links namely: Permanent Video Conferencing (VC) Court link on Cisco Webex (to be published on website). Permanent Digital File link on cloud accessible through internet (to be shared with concerned Advocates and Litigants by the Court).

Safe keeping of original documents and complaint- Under the SOP, once the complaint is allocated to a Digital NI Act Trial Court, at the stage of cognizance of the complaint by the Magistrate, the Complainant shall be duty-bound to deposit all the original documents including the dishonored cheque/s, dishonor memo, Legal Demand Notice, dispatch receipt and service proof, reply if any etc. apart from physical signed original complaint, its supporting affidavit and attested affidavit of pre-summoning evidence. The Complainant shall submit the same with the Ahlmad of the concerned Digital NI Act Court who shall in turn keep them in safe custody and intimate the Trial Court about the same. Deposit of above documents shall be a pre-requisite of taking cognizance and passing of Order under Section 204 CrPC.

Mandatory filling of NI Act Complaint META Data Form- Once the cognizance is taken by the Digital NI Act Court, at the time of filing of first process fees, the Complainant/Complainant’s lawyer would be required to fill up online a mandatory NI Act Complaint META Data Form. The data so collected through the same would be utilized for creating a database for application of AI-based tools on identification, clubbing and bunching of similar cases as also legal research aimed at expediting timely disposal of complaints.

Preparation and Signature of Order Sheets/Misc. Orders- Ld. Magistrates can dictate the Order Sheets to the Stenographers online during or after hearing. The typed Order Sheets shall be digitally signed by the Magistrates before uploading the same on CIS 3.2 and also maintaining the same in the Digital NI Act File folder in the LAYERS and mirror image of the file on Drive on the Cloud accessible by Advocates and Litigants through internet.

Updation/Filing of Additional Documents in Digital Case File- Lawyers/ Litigants can continue to file additional documents via e-Filing portal of e-Committee of Supreme Court as and when required. They can also email such documents to the Court on the dedicated email ID directly or with the help of eSK. However, the Court staff shall also have the facility to scan and upload documents/process report etc in the Digital File.

The Project has executed by a Team of Officers led by Sh. Manoj Jain, Registrar General, Sh. VK Bansal, Chairperson, District Courts Computerisation Committee and Sh. Rakesh Kumar Singh, Joint Registrar, Delhi High Court. Project implementation guidelines have been issued through Sh.Surinder S. Rathi, Member Secretary, SCMSC, who is also serving as OSD-cum-Registrar to Hon’ble Chief Justice D.N. Patel, High Court of Delhi.

Read the Guidelines:

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