‘Decide cases against tainted legislators in one year’: Amicus report to SC

A one-year deadline to try criminal cases against sitting and former legislators, Special Courts for each District are part of key recommendations made to the Supreme Court in a report tabled by Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria.

Hasaria is assisting as amicus curiae in a PIL demanding steps to fast-track trial against tainted politicians. The list of recommendations also includes a presiding judicial officer with a minimum fixed tenure of two years and a dedicated top cop in every district to be the nodal prosecuting officer.

Making radical suggestions, based on statistics on criminal cases pending against former and serving politicians received from various High Courts, Hansaria’s report said, “The High Courts may be directed to prepare a blueprint for expeditious disposal of the cases not later than one year for the conclusion of a trial. Chief Justice of each High Court may be personally requested to look into the matter and submit an action plan within such time as this Court may deem fit.”

The recommendation comes in a PIL filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who has demanded fast-tracking of criminal trials against tainted politicians and a life ban for those convicted in such crimes.

Hansaria further demanded a special court in each district to exclusively try criminal cases against legislators. At present, twelve such courts exist in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and three special courts at magisterial level in Maharashtra, Kerala and Delhi. A total of 4,442 criminal cases are pending against sitting and former legislators in various courts across the country. Of this, 2,556 cases relate to sitting members of Parliament (MPs) and members of legislative assemblies (MLAs) where trial is pending at various stages.

The report makes a state-wise analysis to arrive at the recommendations. For instance, a big state like Madhya Pradesh has one special court hearing 184 cases. He further cited the instance of Tamil Nadu special court hearing only 78 cases even as the bulk of cases (246 cases) involving legislators remain pending in various trial courts across 31 districts.

There are some states bursting at its seams. For instance, the special court at Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad district has 256 cases. There are 62 special courts in the state shouldering the burden of 1,217 cases - the highest for any state. Jharkhand and Odisha do not have a special court. As many as 142 cases against MPs/MLAs are pending in Jharkhand and 331 cases in Odisha. The amicus highlighted some districts like Trivandrum where at the Magisterial level there are 100 cases pending against legislators.

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