The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked 11 states and two UTs to furnish within two weeks the details on criminal cases pending against MPs and MLAs as it said that the Centre will finance a special court to be set up to try these cases.In the last hearing, the court had asked 19 states and six Union Territories (UTs) to furnish the details.A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph also appointed senior lawyer Vijay Hansari as amicus curiae in the case.The court gave a week's time to Additional Solicitor General A.R. Nadkarni to compile the information furnished by the states and UTs.Hansari will inform the court on the number of special courts required to hold and complete the trials in one year as directed by the top court by its March 10, 2014 order.The states given two more weeks to furnish details are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Union Territories of Chandigarh and Lakshadweep.
The top court by its September 12 order had directed the Chief Secretaries of 19 states and six UTs, including Registrar Generals (RGs) of the High Courts, to furnish details of the pending criminal cases."We specifically direct the two authorities -- Chief Secretaries of the states and the Registrar Generals of the High Courts -- to lay before us the precise number of cases presently pending and required to be transferred to the special courts", the apex court had said in its September 12 order.The top court by its March 10, 2014 order had directed that in the cases involving lawmakers, the trial should be completed in one year.The court also wanted to know how many of these cases decided ended in acquittal/conviction of MPs and MLAs.It also sought information whether further criminal cases have been lodged against any present or former lawmaker between 2014 and 2017 (as on date).