Satya Prakash
New Delhi, November 21
Despite the Supreme Court (SC) monitoring the trial of criminal cases against lawmakers, the number of such cases against MPs and MLAs has reached an all-time high of 5,097, the top court was informed on Monday.
“The number of cases against MPs/MLAs is on the rise and has gone up from 4,122 in December 2018 to 4,974 in December 2021 and eventually to 5,097 in November 2022 (excluding Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, for which figures of total pending cases are not available),” amicus curiae Vijay Hansaria told the Supreme Court in a supplementary report filed on Monday.
“As many as 41 per cent of the total cases pending are more than five years old, despite the fact that this court is seized of the matter and has passed various interim orders from time to time to expedite the trial. The highest number of pending cases for more than five years is in Odisha (71 per cent), followed by Bihar (69 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (52 per cent) (Meghalaya figures are not included, as there are four cases pending, all of which are more than five years old),” the report stated.
Punjab, Himachal, Haryana and Chandigarh had 91, 70, 48 and 10 cases pending against lawmakers, respectively, it stated.
The top court, which has been hearing a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay on the issue since 2016, had earlier asked all high courts to furnish details of criminal cases pending for over five years against MPs and MLAs, and the steps taken for their speedy disposal. The report has been prepared after collating the information supplied by various high courts.
A Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud will take up the matter on Tuesday.
According to the 17th report of Hansaria, 51 former and sitting lawmakers, whose names have not been disclosed, faced the Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases registered by the ED. It said 71 MLAs and MLCs faced cases arising out of offences under the PMLA.
Conman seeks transfer from jail
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Delhi Government to respond to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s plea seeking transfer from the Mandoli jail here to another prison. TNS
