The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre, Delhi government and its own registry to respond to a case initiated by it on direction of the Supreme Court to all High Courts to immediately hear long-pending criminal cases against sitting and former legislators.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan asked all the respondents to submit their affidavits indicating the steps taken pursuant to the top court’s direction.
On September 16, the apex court had asked the Chief Justices of all High Courts to list before an appropriate Bench all pending criminal cases involving sitting and former lawmakers, where stay was granted.
4,400 trials held up
Over 4,400 criminal trials have been held up, some for decades, because the powerful MPs and MLAs had approached the High Courts and got an interim stay. Some date back nearly 40 years. Most are stuck at the stage of framing of criminal charges. These cases range from corruption to money laundering, the top court had said.
“There are about 175 cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act and 14 cases are pending under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 against sitting/former legislators,” the order had noted.
There are over 2,500 criminal cases against sitting legislators alone, it had said. The top court has directed that there should not be any unnecessary adjournments. The hearings should proceed on a day-to-day basis. The COVID-19 restrictions would not apply as the hearings can be done through video-conferencing, it ordered.