Supreme Court gives Centre 'last opportunity' to set up NIA courts

The Supreme Court has today granted "last opportunity" to the government to set up special courts to tackle the cases being investigated by the National Investigation Agency.

"If the authorities fail to establish special courts with requisite infrastructure to conduct time bound trials, the courts would invariably be without any option but to release undertrials on bail...", a miffed Justice Surya Kant told the counsel before it.

Court further expressed concerns over how long an accused could be kept behind bars when there was no mechanism for speedy trial.

The bench also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi added that while prosecution under special acts was desired, there were no provisions for trials to be conducted.

In May, the Supreme Court had emphasized the urgent need for dedicated special courts to handle cases investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), noting that the current system is overburdened and hampers timely justice. It also called for a “judicial audit” of laws enacted by the Centre and those proposed by States to assess the anticipated caseloads and infrastructural needs of the judiciary.

Hearing a bail plea filed by alleged Naxal sympathiser Kailash Ramchandani, who is accused in a 2019 IED blast in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli that killed 15 police personnel, the bench had observed that trials in serious NIA cases were facing delays due to the absence of exclusive trial courts. “Each NIA case involves hundreds of witnesses and wide ramifications. These trials suffer because presiding officers are burdened with other matters,” the Court had said.

Supreme Court bench had also underlined that creation of additional courts and infrastructure lies in the executive’s policy domain, but must be undertaken in consultation with the judiciary and based on comprehensive data on pending cases. It had then directed the ASG to provide details of pending NIA cases in Maharashtra and across India, and to take instructions regarding the establishment of dedicated special courts for NIA cases

Case Title: Kailash Ramchandani v. State of Maharashtra & Anr. [SLP(Crl) No. 4276/2025]

Hearing Date: July 18, 2025

Bench: Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi