The High Court of Karnataka on Monday ordered initiation of a PIL petition to monitor the progress of trial of criminal cases pending before the special court set up in 2018 to exclusively deal with the cases related to former and present MPs, MLAs, and MLCs in the State.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi passed the order following a direction from the apex court asking all the High Courts to monitor the criminal cases pending against both former and present elected representatives after noticing the pendency of a large number of cases despite the establishment of special courts.
The Bench also appointed senior advocate Aditya Sondhi as amicus curiae to assist the court in the petition.
The apex court had asked the Chief Justices of all High Courts to immediately list before an appropriate Bench all the pending criminal cases involving sitting/former legislators, particularly those in which stay has been granted by the High Court.
The High Courts were also directed to first decide whether the stay, if granted, should continue, keeping in view the principles regarding the grant of stay enshrined in the judgment of the apex court in the case of Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. vs. CBI.
Day-to-day hearing
In the event that a stay is considered necessary, the High Courts should hear the matter on a day-to-day basis and dispose of the cases expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months without any unnecessary adjournment.
The apex court had also made it clear that the COVID-19 situation should not be an impediment to taking up these cases as they could be heard conveniently through videoconferencing.
