New Delhi- Expressing concern over the pendency of “staggeringly high” number of cheque bounce cases in district courts of major cities, the Supreme Court has issued fresh guidelines to reduce the backlog that included voluntary compromises and release of accused on probation.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and N V Anjaria while dealing with the cheque bounce cases where the Bombay High Court reversed the concurrent finding of the district courts to release the accused, tweaked the 15-year-old guidelines on compounding of offences under the Negotiable Instrument (NI) Act.

It said this court takes judicial notice of the fact that despite repeated directions by this court in various judgments but pendency of cheque bouncing cases under the NI Act in district courts in major metropolitan cit

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