MADURAI: Chief Justice of Madras High Court Manindra Mohan Shrivastava has constituted two dedicated benches to fast-track the hearing and disposal of all petty criminal cases pending at various stages for more than three years in the high court and subordinate courts statewide. While the dedicated bench at the Principal Seat would be headed by Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, a similar bench has been constituted at Madurai under Justice KK Ramakrishnan.
The objective of this pilot project is to clear the backlog of criminal cases involving offences punishable with imprisonment up to three years, pending at the trial, appeal, or revision stage for more than three years. Criminal intimidation cases which are punishable for more than three years were also added to the category after deliberation.
In line with the project, Justice KK Ramakrishnan, instructed the district judiciary, prosecution, police and advocates to identify and bring suitable cases fitting the above category to the notice of his bench from Tuesday. He also suggested appointment of a nodal officer by the DGP to speed up the process.
While the heads of police departments including the superintendents and commissioners have been requested to ensure that their station house officers notify the office of the prosecution about such pending cases, public prosecutors have been told to bring them and other such cases to the notice of the district court concerned or the designated bench. “The parties shall appear before this court directly or by video conference through the police station concerned,” Justice Ramakrishnan added.
He instructed the registry of the HC Bench to list the suo motu petition, instituted for the above purpose, every day, adding that suitable cases can be brought before the bench even from Tuesday (August 19).