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The Karnataka High Court has sought a detailed report in connection with the dropping of cases against the sitting and former MLAs and MPs from the state.

The High Court was acting on the direction of the Supreme Court in Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay & Ors. vs Union of India & Ors., wherein the Apex Court had asked the Chief Justice of all High Courts to formulate an action plan to rationalize the disposal of criminal cases pending against legislators.

The case before the Apex Court was pertaining to inordinate delays in inquiries/investigations/ criminal trials pending against legislators under various laws. The Supreme Court bench of Justices N V Ramana, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy termed the issue to be of ‘paramount importance.’

The Court had directed that the action plan should touch upon the following aspects :

1. Total number of pending cases in each district
2.  Required number of proportionate Special Courts
3.  Number of Courts that are currently available
4. Number of Judges and the subject categories of the cases
5.  Tenure of the Judges to be designated
6. Number of cases to be assigned to each Judge
7. Expected time for disposal of the cases
8. Distance of the Courts to be designate
9. Adequacy of infrastructure

After hearing out Adv. Aditya Sondhi, Amicus Curiae to the High Court, the bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum stated:

“In the meantime, the Registrar General of this Court shall seek information regarding the number of pending or disposed of cases pertaining to Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Legislative Council in the Special Sessions Court and Special Magistrate Court moved by the State Government after September 16, 2020.”

The matter is listed on January 17, 2022.

Cause Title: High Court of Karnataka vs State of Karnataka