MADURAI: As many as 2,484 corruption cases are pending before the subordinate courts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, according to a report submitted by the Registrar General of Madras HC to the Madurai Bench on Friday.
The report revealed that 2,423 corruption cases are pending before lower courts in Tamil Nadu, with Chennai leading the list with 359 pending cases, followed by Madurai and Coimbatore, which have 140 and 138 cases, respectively.
Puducherry has 61 unresolved corruption cases. The registry submitted the report following a direction issued by Justice B Pugalendhi while hearing a petition filed by A Shahul Hameed of Tirunelveli, seeking to expedite the trial in a corruption case pending against him before the principal district judge, Thoothukudi.
Hameed, who was working as an assistant engineer in TWAD board, was booked by the vigilance officials in 2021 for allegedly receiving a `30,000 bribe from a contractor for clearing his bills. He has been under suspension since then. Though the trial in his case commenced in 2023, he claimed that only two witnesses have been examined so far and sought direction to speed up the trial.
Hearing the plea on Thursday, Justice Pugalendhi referred to Section 4(4) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which mandates that special judges should hold trials on a day-to-day basis and try to conclude trias within two years from the date of filing of the chargesheet. It also says that in case of any extension, reasons should be recorded by the trial judge, and even then, the trial should not take more than four years, he added.
However, exclusive Special Courts for trial of offences under PC Act have been constituted only in eight districts, and the cases in the remaining districts are dealt with by the jurisdictional principal district judges, the judge noted. Unless adequate institutional measures are put in place, entrusting all PC Act cases to the Principal District Judges would not help in effectively achieving the mandate under Section 4(4), he said and directed the registry to submit data on district-wise pendency of corruption cases, details of exclusive special courts constituted under PC Act and whether any proposal is pending to designate Additional District and Sessions Courts as Special Courts in districts with substantial pendency. When the case was heard again on Friday, the registry submitted the above report, perusing which the judge reserved his orders.