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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court has directed the Principal District Magistrate to submit the details of the pending cases involving Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) along with the stages of these trials.

The division bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyaya and Justice NJ Jamadar, was hearing a suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court, which seeks the expeditious disposal of cases involving MPs and MLAs.

"We direct that the Principal District Judges of all districts shall furnish details of trials pending and stage of trial in tabular form (charts) within a period of four weeks,” the order reads.

Earlier in April, the high court had allowed six cases to be withdrawn. In March, the high court permitted the withdrawal of cases that had already been withdrawn by the prosecution.

These cases were allowed to be withdrawn after the state informed the high court that it had passed a government resolution to withdraw cases, taking into account social and political causes.

A committee was set up to consider the withdrawal of cases. The committee recommended the withdrawal of cases where there was no loss of life or destruction of property in excess of ₹5 lakhs.

Subsequently, for such cases, the state asked the prosecution to file an application for withdrawal in court.