313 cases against legislators disposed of; 2141 still pending

NEW DELHI: The special fast track courts set up under a dozen high courts for speedy trial of lawmakers facing criminal charges have made some progress with 313 cases disposed of since January this year in nine high courts. Karnataka, 130, disposed of highest registered against former and sitting legislators, followed by Allahabad with 69 and Calcutta with 45, among others.
The pendency of cases against legislators before the special courts still remains high at 2,141, according to the law ministry. The data released by the ministry shows that the special court under the Allahabad HC has the highest 1,254 cases against legislators still pending, followed by Calcutta which has 195 such pendency, Madhya Pradesh 157, Karnataka 144 and Andhra Pradesh 101.
Delhi, where many prominent politicians are facing trial, has not disposed of a single case against a pendency of 96 cases against lawmakers.
The government had last year transferred 791 cases against legislators to 12 fast track courts set up in 11 states for speedy trial of lawmakers on the direction of the apex court. The details of two other fast track courts are not available. Once convicted, politicians are debarred from contesting elections for six years, excluding the prison term.
Last year, the government had told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that 1,765 MPs and MLAs, or 36% of parliamentarians and members of legislative assemblies, were facing criminal trial in 3,045 cases. The total strength of lawmakers in Parliament and assemblies was put at 4,896.
The apex court had directed the government to transfer all these cases to the fast track courts for the trials to be completed within a year.
The purpose of setting up FTCs was to exclusively hear these cases on day to day basis. The highest number of cases against lawmakers is in Uttar Pradesh followed by Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.