Delhi High Court has directed the setting up of 2 Special Courts to deal with cases against elected representatives of the Parliament and the Assembly. The notice directs all cases pending against MPs and MLAs to be transferred to the said Courts by the 1st of March. The cases would be put on fast track and attempt will be made to dispose of them within one year.
The decision comes after the Supreme Court had ordered 12 fast track courts for cases against MPs and MLAs to be made functional by the 1st of March. The order came after the Center filed an affidavit proposing to set up 12 courts for the said purpose. The law ministry said in the affidavit, “As per the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, it is proposed to have 12 special courts with an estimated expenditure of Rs 7.80 crore over a period of one year to dispose of all cases involving political persons.” The Supreme Court had passed the directions while hearing a PIL filed by BJP spokesperson Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.
Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar and Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, of the Patiala House Courts, will preside over the special courts. “The acting chief justice and judges of this court have further been pleased to order that the cases pending against MPs/MLAs in different courts be transferred to these two courts before March 1 and to put such cases on fast track and endeavour be made to dispose of the same within one year,” the administrative order passed by the Delhi High Court said.
