HCs don't require extra courts to try law makers'

The Centre told the Supreme Court that the High Courts of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Patna, Calcutta and Kerala have informed that there is no need for setting up more than one special court to try MPs and MLAs in criminal cases.

Out of 12 special courts across the country, six have been set up at sessions level and five at the magisterial level, while the Tamil Nadu has not indicated the class of court, it said.

In an affidavit, the Union government's law and justice ministry informed the top court that as many as 1,233 cases have been transferred before the special courts.

The special courts have so far disposed of 136 of them and the remaining are still pending.

The Centre had earlier agreed to set up 12 special courts across the country for trying MPs and MLAs in a PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

Two special courts have been set up in Delhi and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

It said in remaining states, where the number of criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs were less than 65, those are to be tried in regular courts in fast track mode.

Three high courts— Hyderabad, Allahabad and Madras— have not furnished any information about the need for setting up additional special courts.

In Karnataka, as many as 142 cases were transferred to the special sessions court which have so far disposed of 19 cases.