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Earlier, the top court has asked the Registrar General of all High Courts to submit a detailed list of the Judges who are hearing these abovesaid cases mentioning which ones are pending and which ones have been disposed of, however, the CBI courts, Special Court which are hearing such cases are to continue, till further orders of the Court.
The Supreme Court today has directed High Courts to form special benches for monitoring criminal cases registered against Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs).
"Multiple factors exist, hence it would be difficult for us to come up with uniform guidelines, thus we leave it to the High Courts, they may form special benches", a CJI Chandrachud led bench observed.
Chief Justices of High Court can list cases in which stay applications have been filed. High Courts shall also create an independent tab on its website on case status, added a bench also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The High Court Chief Justices has also been asked to initiate a suo motu case to be heard by a special bench headed by them to monitor pending cases against MPs/MLAs.
Concerned principal sessions judge have further been asked to ensure sufficient infrastructural facilities are available for the trial of such cases.
These directions have been issued in a 2016 petition filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay urging for issuance of directions to the Centre to take necessary steps to debar persons charged with criminal offences from contesting elections, forming a political party, and becoming office-bearers of any party.
Directions to provide adequate infrastructure to set up Special Courts to decide criminal cases related to People Representatives, Public Servants and Members of Judiciary within one year and debar the convicted persons uniformly from Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, were also sought.
The Supreme Court last year issued notice in the aforementioned plea which avers that 43% of the elected MPs declared criminal cases against them.
“The facts constituting the cause of action accrued on 25.5.2019, when out of 539 winners of 17th Lok Sabha, 233 (43%) declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of 542 winners analysed after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 185 (34%) winners had declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of 543 winners analysed after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, 162 (30%) winners had declared criminal cases”, the petition stated.
Case Title: Ashwini Upadhyay vs. Union of India
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