There are up to 2,556 pending cases against acting deputies and members of the judiciary, including 174 cases in which the maximum prescribed punishment for the crime is life imprisonment. In 352 cases, the CS or HC have suspended the trial. Among the top ministers, K Chandrasekhar Rao from Telangana leads the tally with 64 criminal cases, followed by YS Jaganmohan Reddy from Andhra Pradesh with 38 criminal cases.
A bank of NV Ramana judges, Surya kant and Hrishikesh Roy asked the chief judges of each HC to formulate an action plan on the requirement of special courts for the exclusive trial of criminal cases against current and former legislators, taking into account the following parameters: total number of pending cases in each district, number of special court cases needed for speedy trial, existing number of special courts, number of judges and subject categories of pending cases, mandate of judges to be appointed, number of cases to be assigned to each judge, time foreseen for the resolution of the cases, distance between the designated courts and the infrastructure requirement.
The court also reminded the HC CJs of the 2018 SC ruling, which had ruled that if a stay of judgment granted by the HC was longer than six months, then the trial court could proceed with the trial as if there were no a suspension. He asked the CJs to immediately accept the requests of the legislators in office and former legislators and to cancel the stay or decide their reasons within two months by resorting to the daily hearing. “The condition of Covid-19 should not be an impediment to the fulfillment of this direction, since these matters could be conveniently heard through video conferencing,” he said.
This order came in a PIL filed by attorney-petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay. The court led by Judge Ramana said: “One of the main goals behind the issuance of the notice in this petition, and the various orders that have been approved from time to time by this court, was to ensure that criminal prosecutions against elected representatives (MPs and MLA) are quickly finalized.
“The court opined that such special consideration was required not only because of the growing wave of criminalization that was taking place in the country’s politics, but also because of the power exercised by elected representatives (in office or former) to influence or impede prosecution. cash.
In addition, since legislators are depositories of the faith and trust of their constituency, it is necessary to know the background of the person who is / was elected. Ensuring the purity of democratically elected institutions is therefore the hallmark of the present.However, despite all the initiatives taken by this court in the present petition, there has not been a substantial improvement in the situation as regards the disposition of pending criminal cases against legislators in office / former legislators ”.
Amicus curiae Vijay Hansaria and defender Sneha Kalita had collected data on pending criminal cases against legislators, current and former, submitted by each CH. Hansaria suggested that it would be appropriate to establish a special court, exclusively for the trial of pending criminal cases against current and former legislators, in each district. Senior lawyer Vikas singh, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, had suggested that each CH should determine the number of special courts necessary to quickly conclude trials in criminal cases against legislators.
State Attorney General Tushar mehta He had suggested that all HCs, who have suspended trials in cases against legislators, should resolve the petitions within a month. He said the Center had already released funds to establish the requested number of special courts, but most states had not sent certificates of use of funds. He said central agencies such as the CBI and ED would address matters effectively and ensure that all pending investigations against lawmakers were brought to a logical end in an expeditious manner.
The CV had indicated that another reason for the delay in the trial was that the competent authority did not grant a timely sanction for the prosecution of the accused legislators and that many trials were paralyzed due to the lack of sanction for prosecution. The SG said it would present a status report on the stage of pending investigations against incumbent and former legislators in the CBI / ED cases, the processing of sanctions for prosecution, and the expected time frame for completion of the investigations.
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