CHENNAI: Noting that 193 criminal cases against legislators are pending in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court has ordered expediting the trial process in the cases registered against MPs and MLAs so as to bring them to a logical conclusion soon.
The orders were issued by the first division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan recently when a suo motu writ petition on expediting trial in cases against legislators came up for hearing.
“All cases where stay has not been granted by the higher courts, the trial courts are directed to expedite the trial; cases which are pending for more than five years are required to be expedited. Unnecessary adjournments sought by any side should not be granted,” the bench said in the order.
Further, it directed that trial courts must take up on high priority the cases (in which charge sheets were filed but charges were not framed) to ensure charges are framed at the earliest without granting frequent adjournments.