CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday adjourned to January 12 hearing on the suo motu petition the Registrar (Judicial) had filed in pursuant to orders issued by the Supreme Court related to fast tracking of the long-pending trial of sitting/ former MPs and MLAs. The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Biswanath Rath adjourned hearing after taking note of an affidavit filed by the State government. But the affidavit lacked details on infrastructure such as staff and building along with a time frame to be provided for expeditious disposal of the criminal cases and ensure early completion of trial of such matters.
The government had also so far not submitted details of the criminal cases pending before courts across the State. In the affidavit, Additional Secretary of Home department Prafulla Chandra Pradhan said, “Two Additional District Judge Courts at Bhubaneswar and Berhampur and two Magisterial Courts at Bhubaneswar and Sundagarh have been designated as Special Courts for trial of cases against sitting / former MPs and MLAs.” “For creation of other courts with infrastructure and staff, action will be taken after receipt of the proposal from the High Court”, Pradhan said.
The Law department has been requested to take necessary steps for engagement of Special Public Prosecutors for each designated courts during trial in order to ensure speedy disposal of the cases. One Special Public Prosecutor has been appointed by the department to conduct such cases in at Bhubaneswar courts, Pradhan said in the affidavit.
While registering the case suo motu, the High Court on September 23 had issued notices to the government seeking details of the criminal cases pending before courts across the State. On October 19, the government was asked to file a response to a proposal for creation of three special courts, one each in three revenue divisions and eleven courts of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) for expeditious trial of pending cases against the sitting / former MPs and MLAs in the State.