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  India   All India  15 Dec 2017  Special courts must begin trials against tainted politicians from March 1: SC

Special courts must begin trials against tainted politicians from March 1: SC

THE ASIAN AGE. | J. VENKATESAN
Published : Dec 15, 2017, 12:57 am IST
Updated : Dec 15, 2017, 2:55 am IST

The Bench said it would be open to the Centre to set up one special court for a combination of States depending upon the pendency in each State.

Supreme Court
 Supreme Court

New Delhi: With a view to ensuring political accountability and to expedite the trial of netas with criminal track record, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the States to set up 12 special courts to try criminal cases against MPs/MLAs by March 1, 2018.

A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha passed this interim order, taking note of the Centre’s submission that the government has decided to decided to set up 12 special courts in different parts of the country to dispose off within a year an estimated 1,581 cases against MPs and MLAs pending since 2014.

The Bench in its order said that the Centre had submitted a scheme by which it proposed to set up 12 fast track courts to try the 1581 cases against MPs/MLAs at an estimated cost of Rs 7.80 cr and on December 8, the department of expenditure, Ministry of Finance has given in- principle approval for the same. The Bench observed, “This is only a beginning and not the end of it. Meanwhile “you (Centre) come up with details of pending cases across the country and we will deal with it.”

As the Centre is in the process of collecting details regarding the number of cases pending in each State, the Bench said it would be open to the Centre to set up one special court for a combination of States depending upon the pendency in each State.

The Bench directed the Centre to allocate the funds proportionately to the States concerned for setting up of the 12 special courts so that judicial officers can be appointed and make them operational by March 1, 2018.

Tags: supreme court