NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed serious concern over people with criminal antecedents becoming members of Parliament and state assemblies and said that the problem could no longer be ignored by the legislature.
"It is the duty of the legislature to respond to the collective cry of the citizens. Today the citizens are saying please don't let such people contest elections. It can't be ignored by the legislature It's a national thinking," a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said.
Citing one of his own judgements, the CJI said, "Corruption is a noun but becomes a verb when it enters the political arena. It is ineffective and resistant to antibiotics."
Attorney General K K Venugopal suggested fixing a time limit for the three steps after the filing of the charge sheet: framing of charges, application for discharge, and appeal before a High Court for quashing the charges.
The bench, however, wondered if it could be done by a judicial order in a writ petition as it was a question of adding certain disqualifications in the Representation of People Act, 1951 for candidates contesting elections, which fell in the domain of Parliament.
Senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi, appearing for one of the petitioners in the case, said that in 2014, 34 per cent of the lawmakers had a criminal background and it was impossible that Parliament would make a law to stop criminalisation of politics.
The arguments remained inconclusive and will continue on August 14.
During the hearing, the bench witnessed something unusual when Venugopal opposed the PILs for the Centre while his son K Venugopal sought directions from the court to cleanse politics of criminal elements at a stage prior to conviction.