Hasten MP, MLAs’ criminal trials, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: Aiming to weed out criminals from politics, the Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Centre to submit a plan next month to set up special courts for fast tracking trial of 1,581 lawmakers facing criminal cases since 2014.

A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha asked the Centre to indicate how much money it was willing to allocate for setting up fast track courts for concluding the trial of MPs and MLAs facing criminal charges within a year. The bench noted that these special courts should exclusively deal with cases of politicians.

Justice Gogoi said that the petition seeking swift trial of lawmakers  has arisen because convictions are not taking place. “In some cases it takes 20 years for a person to be convicted and by this time he serves four terms as a legislator,” he said.

Fixing the next hearing on December 13, the court also sought an update from the Centre on the 1,581 cases.

Petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya had earlier told the apex court that 1,581 MPs and MLAs have criminal cases pending against them according to affidavits filed during the 2014 parliamentary and Assembly elections.

The bench also wanted to know from the Centre the number of criminal cases registered afresh against politicians.

The Election Commission joined the apex court’s mission by supporting a petitioner’s suggestion to impose lifetime ban on convicted politicians from contesting elections.

Senior counsel Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the EC, said the Commission supported the petitioner to the extent that there should be de-criminalisation of politics. She also favoured special courts to fast track pending criminal cases.

The court also decided to examine whether a lifetime ban would violate the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution, as such a disqualification has not been provided either in the Constitution or the Representation of People Act.

A ban for a lifetime, as sought by the petitioner, could spell doom for politicians including Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar or AIADMK’s V.K. Sasikala in Tamil Nadu.

The existing law disqualifies politicians sentenced to a jail term of two years or more from contesting elections for six years from the date of release from prison.

Additional solicitor general Atmaram Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, said that the government was not averse to setting up special courts and added that it was a subject related to states.

The bench said that the states will be involved after the Centre submits its scheme and the financial outlay for the courts.

On the demand for a lifetime ban on convicted politicians from contesting elections, Mr Nadkarni said that the recommendations of the EC and Law Commission favouring such a ban were being considered by the government. He said that the government had not come across even a single case of a politician getting elected after conviction and disqualification.

This was disputed by petitioners who pointed out the case of Phoolan Devi who became an MP from Mirzapur constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the late 1990s.