The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to list for an urgent hearing a 2016 Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, seeking speedy disposal of criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs across the country.
Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who is assisting the Supreme Court as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the matter, told the bench that urgent directions were needed for expeditious disposal of the cases.
Appearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Hansaria said the matter concerned the speedy trial of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs. “Nearly 40 per cent of MLAs have criminal cases against them. It needs to be listed urgently, and some immediate directions are required,” he said.
Hansaria added that, in line with an earlier direction, the case could be heard by a three-judge bench.
The CJI responded, “Yes, it will be listed.”
In his latest report on the criminalisation of politics, Hansaria stated that 251 members of the 543-member Lok Sabha and 75 members of the 233-member Rajya Sabha have declared criminal cases against themselves.
According to his affidavit filed in the apex court, more than 4,000 criminal cases are pending against MPs and MLAs. The affidavit also states that chief ministers of 14 of the 28 states have declared criminal cases against themselves, including cases of a serious nature.
As per the data provided by Hansaria, 89 cases have been declared against Telangana Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy, 29 cases against West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and 19 cases against Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
Hansaria told the SC that despite monitoring by the apex court and high courts for early disposal of cases against MPs and MLAs, the number of pending cases has remained almost at the same level since 2018.
Earlier, on November 9, 2023, the Supreme Court had issued several directions to expedite the hearing of more than 5,000 pending criminal cases against MPs and MLAs. The court had asked high courts to constitute special benches to monitor such cases.