Decide cases of stay on trial against MP/MLAs: Supreme Court asks High Courts

In possible trouble to legislators facing criminal cases, the Supreme Court has asked Chief Justices of all High Courts to decide within two months all cases where a stay has been granted in trial against sitting and former MPs and MLAs.

Holding that ensuring the purity of democratically elected institutions is the hallmark of the present proceedings, the court said the legislators are the repositories of the faith and trust of their electorate, there is a necessity to be aware of the antecedents of the elected person.

A bench presided over by Justice N V Ramana asked Chief Justices of all the High Courts to list forthwith all pending criminal cases, involving sitting and former MPs and MLAs, particularly those wherein a stay has been granted before an appropriate bench.

"The court must first decide whether the stay granted, if any, should continue...In the event that a stay is considered necessary, the court should hear the matter on a day­-to­-day basis and dispose of the same expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months, without any unnecessary adjournment," the bench said.

"The court noted a report furnished by amicus curiae senior advocate Vijay Hansaria and advocate Sneha Kalita stating there are about 175 cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and 14 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 against sitting and former legislators. These are in addition to the 4442 criminal cases.

The court said, "It goes without saying that the Covid­-19 condition should not be an impediment to the compliance of this direction, as these matters could be conveniently heard through video conferencing."

In an order passed in a PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy, said despite all the initiatives taken by this court in the present petition, there has been no substantial improvement in the situation when it comes to the disposal of pending criminal cases against sitting and former legislators.

The court noted that various orders have been passed time to time by this court, was to ensure that criminal prosecutions against elected representatives are concluded expeditiously.

"The court was of the opinion that such special consideration was required not only because of the rising wave of criminalisation that was occurring in the politics in the country, but also due to the power that elected representatives, sitting or former, wield, to influence or hamper effective prosecution," the bench said.

In a series of directions, the court also asked the High Court to submit an action plan for rationalisation of the number of special courts set up to deal with the cases against MP/ MLAs.