Pending cases against MPs & MLAs : Northeast has 96, Assam tops list with 45

GUWAHATI: A shocking revelation! As many as 96 people’s representatives from the Northeast, including former MPs and MLAs, have criminal cases pending at various stages against them. What is even more shocking is that Assam tops the list in the region with 45 such cases.

Other States in the region with such pending cases are Arunachal Pradesh with 31 such cases, Tripura with 14 cases, Manipur with five cases and Mizoram with one case. Meghalaya and Nagaland have no such cases pending against any of their people’s representatives.

In 2016 a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India seeking speedy disposal of criminal cases pending against people’s representatives, including former MPs and MLAs, the apex court directed senior advocate and Amicus Curiae Vijay Hansaria to ensure the exact number of such criminal cases pending for more than a year State wise. It was on October 23, 2018 advocate Hansaria submitted his report to the apex court.

According to the report submitted to the Supreme Court, Assam has 45 criminal cases pending against its present and former MPs and MLAs. According to the report, the apex court has asked States that have less than 65 such cases pending over one year to constitute special courts for speedy disposal of such cases or to try them in regular courts in a fast-track mode.

The report says that Assam does not have any special court as yet, and there is no such court in Tripura as well.

The 14th Finance Commission, on the other hand, did allocate Rs 82.88 crore to Assam for constituting a fast-track court. The Finance Commission did also allocate Rs 16.1 crore to Mizoram, Rs 6.9 crore to Nagaland, Rs 20.7 crore to Tripura and Rs 9.2 crore to Meghalaya for the setting up fast-track courts.

The report says that there are as many as 3,733 criminal cases pending against present and former people’s representatives all over the country, barring Kerala. The apex court, according to the report, is skeptical of the delay in disposing of such cases at all levels – during investigations, trials, framing charges and in some cases due to stay orders issued from high courts.

Though the report has stopped short of giving details of criminal cases against people’s representatives in Assam, sources in the State say that when there are cases against ruling party MPs and MLAs, the police, as often as not, opt to delay the investigation part and submitting charge-sheets to the court.

The Supreme Court said: “…cases relating to ruling party MPs and MLAs, who have charges framed against them for the offences which are specified in Sections 8(1), 8(2), 8(3) of RP Act, trials shall be conducted as speedily and expeditiously as may be possible and in no case later than one year from the date of the framing of charges. In such cases the trial shall be conducted on a day-to-day basis…”

The apex court said the special courts will have to make a calendar for each case and try the cases on a day-to-day basis without adjournment. The special courts have also been asked to send regular reports in such cases to their respective high courts.