Supreme Court to Centre: Set up 12 special courts for cases against tainted MPs, MLAs by March 1

In the affidavit, the Law Ministry said, “As per the directions of the Supreme Court, 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.”

On Thursday, the SC asked the state governments to set up the fast-track courts after due consultation with respective High Courts. “State governments in consultation with HCs will set up fast-track courts and ensure they start functioning from March 1, 2018,” the top court said.

It also directed the Centre to proportionally allocate Rs 7.8 crore to states where 12 special courts would be set up. The Centre had proposed to form two special courts for trying cases against MPs and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

The number of courts “has been calculated on the basis of the 11th Finance Commission analysis that one such court can dispose of 165 cases per annum”, said the government. In states where there are less than 65 cases, it has been proposed that the cases should be sent to the existing fast-track courts. In March 2014, the apex court had directed that cases against people’s representatives should be disposed of within a year.