The Punjab and Haryana High Court has sought the requisite information about criminal cases against MPs and MLAs.
The division bench of Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh passed this order while taking suo motu cognizance of the issue. The Court has directed all District and Sessions Judges to send information regarding pending cases against MLAs, MPs with clear intent to fast-track cases involving sitting and erstwhile MPs and legislators of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh by not only seeking details of pending matters, but also issuing directions for their expeditious disposal.
Amicus curiae Rupinder Khosla apprised the Court that as per the information supplied to him by the registry, only two cases are pending before the Single Judge of this Court.
He submitted that he can get fresh instructions from the registry to ensure that no case pertaining to MPs/MLAs has been left out of the list.
He has already furnished a list of cases which have been disposed of and those that are pending. In the spirit of the order passed by the Supreme Court, titled Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay Vs. Union of India & Anr. (supra), an officer of the rank of Inspector General of Police shall be present on the next date of hearing to furnish the requisite information of all the cases pending against the MPs/MLAs (sitting or erstwhile) in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Similar direction is issued to District Judges of Punjab, Haryana and U.T. Chandigarh to furnish details of such cases and to ensure their speedy disposal thereof. They shall also send a report regarding the stage of such trials.
“At this stage, Khosla, amicus curiae, points out that information may also be required from the Union of India, Central Bureau of Investigation, E.D. and other Central Investigating Agencies as the operative part of the order specifically mentions that trial of all the criminal cases instituted by the State(s) have to be monitored. As we have requested information from all the Sessions Judges in the three States, we expect that information as suggested by Khosla would also be furnished,”
-the order reads.