Gujarat HC Initiates Suo Motu Matter On Expediting Trials Against MPs/MLAs [Read Order]
In a suo moto case registered on Wednesday, the Gujarat High Court has decided to monitor expeditious disposal of criminal proceedings pending against sitting/ former MPs and MLAs in the local Courts under its jurisdiction. The case was registered by a Division Bench comprising of Justices RM Chhaya and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati, and will be placed before a Bench led by Chief Justice...
In a suo moto case registered on Wednesday, the Gujarat High Court has decided to monitor expeditious disposal of criminal proceedings pending against sitting/ former MPs and MLAs in the local Courts under its jurisdiction.
The case was registered by a Division Bench comprising of Justices RM Chhaya and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati, and will be placed before a Bench led by Chief Justice Vikram Nath on November 4, 2020.
The case, registered pursuant to a recent direction issued by the Supreme Court in Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., will ensure that all the concerned departments function in a coordinated manner.
the Supreme Court had said,
"these cases should be investigated without undue delay and wherever charge-sheet has not been filed, it should be filed in time and the Special Courts dealing with these cases should expedite the trial on priority basis and that there should not be any scope for delay."
After this direction, the Gujarat High Court had issued an administrative order to all the Principal District Judges to ask the subordinate courts to expedite hearings in criminal cases pending against former/ sitting legislators.
The High Court had also requested the Public Prosecutors/ Government Pleaders to inform the Registrar General via e-mail/ letter about the criminal cases in which they were representing MPs and MLAs, before the High Court of Gujarat.
The High Courts of Delhi, Karnataka and Orissa had also registered suo moto cases in this regard. Following the lead, the Manipur High Court also registered the suo moto case and appointed Senior Advocate Y. Nirmolchand Singh as the Amicus Curiae.
Recently, the Telangana High Court asked the lower courts to take up hearing of pending cases against MPs and MLAs, on day to day basis.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court directed its Registry to furnish the list of pending criminal cases against former and sitting MPs and MLAs in the state within 2 weeks.
Read Order