Apex Court Set to Hear IA Tomorrow in Pending Cases of MPs/ MLAs
(Judicial Quest News Network)
Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhayaya filed an Application in Supreme Court seeking a direction to expedite adjudication of cases pending against Members of Legislative Assembly (“MLAs”) and Members of Parliament (“MPs”).
Its further states “That the present Writ Petition has been filed with an object to set up Special Courts to try criminal cases of MPs and MLAs and for utmost expeditious disposal of those cases.
To this effect, this Hon’ble Court has consistently passed orders for setting up fast track courts for speedy disposal of criminal cases related to MPs and MLAs.
However, political persons are leaving no stone unturned to defeat the purpose of this Writ Petition and the effect of the orders passed by this Hon’ble Court. Further, the State has failed to prioritise the issue of speedy disposal of cases against MPs or MLAs”
It is submitted that this Hon’ble Court further directed the State Governments in consultation with the respective High Courts to set up the fast track courts and granted power to the High Courts to trace the case records of Trial Courts and transfer those cases to the respective Special Court. Order reads: “The High Court(s), acting through the various trial Courts, will trace out from the case records the particular case(s) pending in the files of the respective judicial officers under the jurisdiction of the High Court(s) which are required to be dealt with by the Special Courts under the Scheme and thereafter transfer the said cases to such Special Courts(s) for adjudication.”
The Application further states that The State of Tamil Nadu has always adopted an approach to frustrate letter and spirit of the directions issued by this Hon’ble Court for speedy disposal of criminal cases related to MPS and MLAs.
The cases pending against MPs and MLAs were not being transferred to the Special Courts constituted to try criminal cases involving MPs and MLAs of Tamil Nadu.
The courts where these cases were pending were merely adjourning the matters.
Therefore, the Petitioner was constrained to file IA 31721/2019, before this Hon’ble Court seeking a direction to the Registrar General, Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Madras to transfer all criminal cases related to MPs and MLAs pending under its jurisdiction, to the Special Courts. Vide order dated 25.03.2019, this Hon’ble Court passed an order to this effect. The relevant extract is as under
“We direct the Registrar General of the High Court of Judicature at Madras to transfer all criminal cases related to MPs and MLAs pending under its jurisdiction to the Special Court for cases related to Elected MP and MLA of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.”
The Application mentions That the State of Tamil Nadu has around 313 criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs. Political persons of all the parties have applied every trick in the book and the Government of Tamil Nadu has collaborated with them to prevent speedy disposal of these cases.
The prominent reasons for delay in disposal of the cases related to MPs and MLAs are produced below.
Instead of establishing fast track courts dealing exclusively with the matters of MPs and MLAs in every district, the Government of Tamil Nadu has constituted two Special Courts in the cadre of Session judge and one additional Special Court in the cadre of Assistant Session Judge, for Chennai District.
In addition to these Special Courts the Government has also designated Principle District and Session Court in every Session Division in the State of Tamil Nadu for the trial of session cases and cases under Special Acts involving elected MPs and MLAs. Besides this, the Government has also designated a Judicial Magistrate Court for each District in Tamil Nadu for the trial of magisterial cases involving elected MPs and MLAs. These Courts are dealing with other matters as well.
It is frustrating the directions of this Hon’ble Court as the cases of MPs and MLAs are treated like other cases and no effective hearing is done. Therefore, it does not aide in granting speedy disposal of cases of MPs and MLAs. Thus, the State has intelligently over reached the directions issued by this Hon’ble Court to set up exclusive courts for trial of MPs and MLAs.
ii. The posts of judges are vacant in several courts where the cases of MPs or MLAs are pending. Therefore, these cases get adjourned on every date without any progress.
iii. There are several cases in which MPs and MLAs approach Hon’ble High Court or this Hon’ble Court in order to get stay on their matters. Although this Hon’ble Court has clearly stated that all the cases involving MPs and MLAs should be tried by Special Courts, the main argument for grant of stay in the Hon’ble High Court was that the accused were not elected Members of Parliament or Members of Legislative Assembly at the time of offence and at the time of registration of FIR.
It is relevant note that contrary to these arguments, Thiru Balakrishna Reddy, former Minister of Government of Tamil Nadu was convicted by the Special Court in Chennai constituted for MPs and MLAs on 07.01.2019 in SC No. 505/2018 in spite of the fact that he was neither elected MP or MLA at the time of the offence for which he was convicted.
Stay is granted despite observations of this Hon’ble Court in Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. v. Central Bureau of Investigation, (2018) 16 SCC 299, against pendency of cases on account of stay being granted by courts. Matters cannot proceed till the stay orders are in force. This leads to inordinate delay in disposal of the matter.
It is prayed in the Application that In view of the above, it has become necessary that the following directions are needed in order to ensure that all 313 cases registered against MPS and MLAs are disposed of at the earliest:
i. Direct the Registrar General of the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Madras to:
a. ensure judges are appointed to Special Courts;
b. monitor day to day progress of cases pending before Special Courts;
c. disposes of revisions and appeals preferred by accused on expedited basis
d. ensures that all the cases involving elected MP and MLAbe
transferred to Special Courts and no heed should be given to the argument that they were not MPs or MLAs at the time of the offence or at the time of
registration of FIR be transferred
ii. Direct State of Tamil Nadu to establish exclusive Special Courts in every district, exclusively for trial of cases involving MPs and MLAs and dispense with the trial of these cases in the designated Principle District and Session Courts in all Session Divisions in the State and also to provide adequate infrastructure to the Special Courts, within a period of 30 days
