KOLKATA: A special fast track court at Barasat district court in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas will hear pending cases against MPs and MLAs from the state, including major scams that rocked the first term of the Trinamool Congress government.
Calcutta High Court had passed a directive (order number 1380A) on March 6 asking all subordinate courts under its purview to transfer pending cases against the lawmakers in their current status to a
special fast track court at Barasat district court. It also made clear that the special court will be a
temporary arrangement.
A district level judge will hear the cases in the temporary fast track court. The directive has been sent to all
district judges of West Bengal and also to the Andaman and Nicobar court which comes under the purview of Calcutta High Court.
Though the directive had been issued on March 6, its implementation came to light on Wednesday when Bidhannagar ACJM court said that the case involving Saradha scam accused suspended Trinamool Congress lawmaker Kunal Ghosh has been transferred to the Barasat special fast-track court.
West Bengal has the highest number of MLAs with criminal charges, according to a report by New Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms.
Out of 294 MLAs in the state Assembly, 107 (a third) have criminal charges against them of which 98 have serious criminal charges most of them from ruling Trinamool Congress.