Direction sought from SC for speedy disposal of 5,000 cases against lawmakers

With nearly 5,000 cases pending against sitting and former Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies, the Supreme Court has been urged to issue directions to ensure expeditious disposal of cases against the lawmakers.

The latest affidavit filed by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who has been appointed amicus curiae by the apex court in a PIL seeking expeditious disposal of criminal cases against MPs/MLAs, said legislators have great influence on the investigation and/or trial of cases against them, and trials are not allowed to be concluded.

“It is submitted that despite orders by this court from time to time and monitoring by the high court, a large number of cases are pending against the MPs and MLAs, which is a scar on the democratic setup of our country. The pendency of a large number of cases, some of them for decades, shows that the legislators have great influence on the investigation and/or trial of cases against them, and the trial is not allowed to be concluded,” Hansaria’s affidavit said.

A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan will take up the PIL filed by Ashwini Upadhyay in 2016 seeking life ban of convicted politicians for hearing on Monday.

Hansari, in his affidavit filed through advocate Senha Kalita, said a total of 4,732 criminal cases are pending against the lawmakers, including 892 cases registered in 2024 as of January 1, 2025.

Referring to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a poll rights body, Hansari said out of the 543 members in the present Lok Sabha, 251 have criminal cases against them, of which 170 are serious criminal cases (punishable with five years of imprisonment or more).

Flagging various reasons for the delay in the trial of cases, Hansaria said the special court for MPs/MLAs undertakes regular court work and the trial against MPs/MLAs is only one of the many assignments of these courts, except in a few states.

He said in some cases, the accused are not appearing before the court on the date fixed and the process is not served on the witnesses in time for recording of evidence.

Among other reasons, he said prosecution has not taken effective and serious steps for the presence of the witnesses in the court on the specified dates and the trial courts have been liberal in granting adjournments despite the direction of this court that “the trial court shall not adjourn cases except for rare and compelling reasons”.

The affidavit said, “It is submitted that the orders passed by various high courts in the suo motu writ petition shows that there is no substantial progress in the trial of cases. It is thus necessary that this court may pass further directions to ensure expeditious disposal of cases against MPs/MLAs.”