Advani suggests fast track courts to try politicians

“Politics, for many of its practitioners, has become commerce. Because of corruption in high places, the poison has spread in many parts of the governance structure,” Advani said.

He also announced the party’s plan to form an advisory committee, headed by party general secretary Arun Jaitley and with retired Supreme Court judge Rama Jois and others as members, to prepare an agenda for legal and judicial reforms.

The Leader of Opposition also suggested that if a broad consensus emerged, four zonal benches of the Supreme Court could be established in various parts of the country. The main branch of the Supreme Court could then concern itself with constitutional matters, he said.

He also expressed concern at the rising number of pending cases in courts, the high judge-population ratio and low budgetary allocation for the judiciary.

Advani said the criminal justice system in India was such that conviction rate had fallen to 6-7 per cent creating a situation where ‘criminals tend to feel safe and beyond the pale of law’.

He accused the UPA government of being incompetent and unwilling to fight terrorism.