SC directs Centre, states to set up 12 special courts to try criminal politicians

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 set up 12 special courts in various parts of the country to dispose of 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 1,581 cases against MPs/MLAs at an estimated cost of '7.80cr 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.”