Delhi High Court asks its Judges to give priority hearing to criminal cases against MPs/MLAs

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked its judges to give priority hearing to all criminal cases/appeals/revisions concerning the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) so that the matters can be decided expeditiously and effectively [In Re: Designated Courts for MPs/MLAs v Union of India & Ors]. .A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora also asked its registry to re-allocate/re-distribute the cases pending before a single-judge of the Court in which orders of stay of trial have been passed and the stay is continuing for more than six months.There are a total of 34 such cases.“The Registry has informed us that there are currently thirty-four (34) pending cases/appeals/revisions involving MP’s and MLA’s, before the Single Bench of this Court in which orders of stay of trial have been passed and are continuing for a period of more than six months. As such Registry is directed to re-allocate/re-distribute these cases to such Courts/Benches as is considered appropriate and effective for expeditious disposal of such cases, so that stay applications are disposed of in the subject cases expeditiously and trial of such cases can conclude before the designated Special Courts,” the Court said in its judgment.It also directed the registry to circulate the judgment to other judges of the High Court. “In line with the directives passed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India in WP(C) No 699 of 2016 titled as Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs. Union of India & Anr, we direct the Registry of this Court to circulate this order to brother and sister judges assigned with such cases so that priority is given to all criminal cases/appeals/revisions pending before them against the members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies, as it is essential for expeditious and effective disposal of such cases.”.The division bench passed the order while dealing with a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) to monitor the cases pending against MPs and MLAs in the trial courts as well the High Court.The High Court registry told the Bench that there are currently 34 pending cases/appeals/revisions involving MPs and MLAs before single-judge of the Delhi High Court in which orders of stay of trial have been passed and are continuing for a period of more than six months..With respect to the cases pending before district courts, the High Court directed the concerned special MP/MLA courts to give priority first to the cases against legislators which are punishable by death or life imprisonment, then to cases punishable with imprisonment for five years or more and then hear other cases.“We also request all the Judges to refrain from adjourning the subject cases except for rare and compelling reasons.”The matter will be heard next on May 20..Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi appeared as amicus curiae in the matter. He was assisted by advocates Shreya Sethi, Sumer Dev Seth and Riya Kumar.Advocates Rajat Aneja, Aditya Sharma and Rishabh Jain represented the High Court..[Read Order]