Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 13
Nagaland figures among the States which have not responded to Supreme Court orders for information about the number of criminal cases pending against their MPs/MLAs and the setting up of special courts to exclusively try them.
A total of 25 States and Union Territories did not bother to respond even once, between November last year and August 2018, to repeated Supreme Court orders for information about the number of criminal cases pending against their MPs/MLAs and the setting up of special courts to exclusively try them.
On September 12, the apex court took note of this long silence from the States and Union Territories about their respective legal battles against criminality and corruption in politics.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi alphabetically recorded the names of each one of those States and Union Territories in its six-page order. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
The Supreme Court said the States ignored its orders of November 11, 2017 and August 28 this year.
Will check compliance
Taking serious note of the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the States, the Supreme Court said it would monitor the compliance of its orders to form special courts to try MPs/MLAs and the functioning of these courts.
The Bench directed the Chief Secretaries of the States and the Registrar Generals of the High Courts to provide the precise number of cases presently pending and required to be transferred to the special courts.
The Bench also directed the two authorities to provide information on the functionality of 12 special courts which have already been set up in 11 States. It has also sought information on the volume of cases required to be transferred to the special courts and whether there is a need to set up more such courts.
Of the 11 States, Delhi has two special courts while Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have one each. Of the 12 special courts, six are sessions courts and five are magisterial courts.
The Supreme Court had on December 14, 2017 ordered special courts to be set up to fast-track the long-pending trials of lawmakers.
2 with criminal cases contested in NLA 2018 election
As per the constituency-wise personal affidavits made public by the Election Commission of India for the 13th Nagaland Legislative Elections 2018, a report of which was published by The Morung Express, two male contenders declared criminal cases pending against them. This was out of the nomination submissions filed by 228 candidates before 32 withdrew.
The two candidates, contesting for two different regional parties from two different constituencies, have 3 cases in total. In the affidavit submitted, one has declared two pending cases – one relating to charges filed under IPC sections 418, 420,423 and 426 and a separate narcotics case in which the candidate has been charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The former case dates to 2012 and the latter to 2009-10.
The other candidate was charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 on “allegation of misappropriation of government fund.” As per his affidavit, the case is pending at a Special CBI Court since 2011. The case was investigated by the Economic Offences Wing of the CBI.
The two contenders also featured in the list of candidates with criminal cases in the NLA elections of 2013 published by the New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms. One won while the other lost.
The 2013 NLA elections had 3 contenders with declared criminal cases against them out of a total 187 candidates. Two were NPF candidates and the third, an Independent. Out of the three, one NPF candidate won. The Independent does not feature in the list of candidatures for the 13th NLA 2018 polls.
The cases against them, in random order, included motor accident claims, narcotics, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and corruption charges.
In 2008, there were 4 with criminal cases out of 218 candidates. Two were from the RJD, one Congress and the fourth, an Independent. All four candidates could not make it to the 11th NLA. The charges pending against them included attempt to murder, forgery, impersonation, defamation, counterfeiting and criminal intimidation. (With inputs from Agencies)
