Govt in sync with SC on spl courts for speedy trial of pending cases
The Election Commission on Wednesday proposed life ban for MPs/MlAs convicted in criminal cases in view of the rising trend of criminalisation in politics. The poll panel’s stand came during a PIl proceeding in the Supreme Court which is debating whether politicians convicted in criminal offences should be barred from contesting polls for life instead of a six-year ban under the Representation of Peoples Act.
But on this contentious issue, the Centre remained non-committal. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Atmaram Nadkarni told the court that the recommendations of both the EC and the law Commission of India in this regard were pending with the Centre. However, on fast-tracking trial against tainted politicians saw a unanimity between the EC and the Centre with both in favour of setting up of special courts, a demand raised in the PIl filed by a BJP spokesperson and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.
The Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha directed the Centre to frame a scheme within six weeks detailing the number of such courts required to be set up across the country. By a rough estimate, the Centre said about 1,000 courts would have to be set up.
The Bench told the Centre to first frame the scheme and allocate funds following which States could follow suit by setting up the infrastructure required to try criminal cases against MPs and MlAs.
The ASG agreed to frame the scheme before December 13, the next date of hearing.
Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for EC, informed the Bench that the EC was in “support” of a life ban on convicted MPs/MlAs who stand disqualified for 6 years on their conviction in a criminal case punishable with a sentence of two or more years (Section 8(3) of RP Act).
She said that the EC had recommended so to the Centre with a view to curb the growing criminalisation of politics.
The court came across a report prepared by Association of Democratic Rights, an NGO associated with electoral reforms that disclosed names of 1,581 MPs/MlAs facing 13,500 criminal cases in the present lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The Bench told ASG to get information on how many cases were disposed in the past three years, how many ended in acquittal, and in how many cases conviction was awarded. This was done with the aim to ascertain whether criminal trial against MPs/MlAs was being concluded within one year, as ordered by the apex court on March 10, 2014.
In addition, the court wished to know data on fresh cases instituted against any MP/MlA after the March 2014 decision and whether these were disposed of within the one-year deadline as proposed by the court.