Gauhati High Court seeks status report for swift disposal of cases against MPs, MLAs

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court today passed a significant order stating that a status report from the Registry would be necessary before passing further orders in the proceeding related to the expeditious disposal of cases pending against MPs and MLAs.

The report should contain the number of pending cases in Gauhati High Court and its outlying benches and stay orders in force, not allowing for faster disposal of pending cases against MPs and MLAs, the HC’s order said.

The special bench of Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury passed the order in connection with a suo-moto proceeding (WP-C 3/2020), which has been registered in terms of the judgement and order dated November 9, 2023, passed by the Supreme Court in WP(C) 699/2016, laying down certain guidelines for expeditious disposal of cases pending against MPs and MLAs.

The matter was listed for the first time today before the Special Bench after the reconstitution of the Monitoring Bench, along with the connected proceedings of Crl. Pet. 931/2019, Crl. Pet. 1289/2019, Crl. Pet. 483/2022, Crl. Pet. 732/2015, Crl. Pet. 517/2016, Crl. Pet. 1134/2018, Crl. Pet. 929/2022, Crl. Pet. 930/2022, and Crl. Pet 303/2015.

The bench said it found that cases pending against the MPs and MLAs in the four states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh, coming within the jurisdiction of this High Court, have been reflected in the table furnished in the order dated November 9, 2023. However, they did not find any updated status report on record for passing any fresh order by the Monitoring Bench. Under the circumstances, the Court opined that a report from the Registry would be necessary to facilitate further orders that can be passed in the case.

The bench, therefore, directed the Registrar General to collate relevant information and present a status report with the following information: (i) the number of cases along with the present status of the cases pending before the Principal Seat at Guwahati as well as the out-lying benches of the Gauhati High Court, pertaining to MPs and MLAs; (ii) stay orders, if any, operating in these matters coming in the way of expeditious trial or disposal of these cases with specific particulars thereof.

It was also stated that a similar exercise should also be carried out with regard to the cases pending before the District Courts as well as in the Court of Special Judge in the four states mentioned.

The report called for by the bench is sought to be placed on record before the next date of hearing on May 31, 2024.

The bench also ordered that a copy of today’s order be furnished to the Accountant Generals and Assistant Accountant Generals of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh, apart from the Registrar General.

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