The Supreme Court on Friday issued a slew of directions to expedite trials pending before special courts in cases under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act [In Re: Creation of Special Exclusive Courts]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed that there shall be at least one special NIA court for every 10-15 pending trials. The Court passed the order while hearing a suo motu case registered in February this year to oversee the creation of special courts to tackle the pendency of criminal trials under special laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)."If there are more than 15 trials pending within the jurisdiction of a particular High Court, then in that case two courts shall be set up. Whereas, where trials are more than 25, three courts will be set up," the Bench ordered..The Court directed the Central government and the NIA to approach the jurisdictional High Courts for setting up exclusive courts for hearing of matters."We request the concerned authorities to consult with the High Courts and provide exclusive space, sufficient space, for the service of the exclusive courts where the Presiding Officers shall be entrusted only with the trial of cases under Section 11 of the Act," the Bench said.Section 11 of the NIA Act empowers the Central government to designated sessions courts as special NIA courts..Further, the Court directed that pending cases before such courts shall be taken up on a day-to-day basis. "However, the Presiding Officers shall be at liberty to list matters in the manner they want, while ensuring that at least one trial is concluded within one month," the Court added.The Court directed the concerned authorities to ensure compliance with its directions for availability of requisite space to establish these courts, subject to the government releasing the necessary funds for it."Before issuing any direction for releasing proposed grants, we impress upon the Union Government that the requisite assistance shall be directed towards releasing the necessary funds to build only those additional structures which are important for implementation of these directions and for conducting those trials, especially with respect to the High Courts and setting up special courts for conducting those trials, including metropolitan and civil court complexes," the Court added..The Court had earlier underscored that judges presiding over NIA courts must not be burdened with additional other work. A similar concern was expressed last year as well. "This Court, after taking cognizance of the situation, has indicated that NIA courts should exclusively deal with UAPA and other related trials, and such presiding officers shall not be entrusted with any other cases. That will facilitate and ensure that the presiding officers are able to take up UAPA trials on a day-to-day basis," the Court had said..[Live Coverage]
