Ahmedabad: To ease the mounting burden of cheque bounce cases, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) courts in Ahmedabad on Friday launched an online payment facility for matters under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

The first transaction was completed the same day and the case was disposed of, marking the rollout of the system in Gujarat. The move follows the Supreme Court’s direction in Sanjabij Tari vs Kishore S. Borcar, which asked district courts to allow accused persons to deposit the cheque amount online at the summons stage.

Aimed at encouraging early settlements and reducing prolonged litigation, the facility enables the accused to deposit the cheque amount through SBI Collect into the court’s designated account. Courts can then instantly verify the payment digitally and proceed with compounding and disposal of the case, subject to both parties’ consent.

The reform comes amid a heavy backlog in Ahmedabad, where over four lakh cheque return cases are pending and 10,000–15,000 new cases are filed each month. Judicial officers expect the online system to speed up resolution of purely financial disputes suitable for settlement. DeshGujarat