Question : SPECIAL COURTS

(a) whether the Government proposes to set up special courts for disposal of criminal cases mentioned in the affidavits of candidates who contested General Election-2014 and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Hon’ble Supreme Court has recently made an observation that despite writing of a letter in 2007 by then Chief Justice of India the Government has not made any substantial progress in setting up of special courts in the country;

(c) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto along with the action taken thereon so far;

(d) whether the Government has made any provision for evening courts for disposal of pending cases and if so, the number of such courts functioning in the country; and

(e) the number of cases disposed of by these courts during the last three years and the current year including the funds allocated and released by the Government for these courts during the said period?

MINISTER OF LAW & JUSTICE (SHRI D. V. Sadananda Gowda)

(a)to(c): The Law Commission of India has submitted its 239th Report on Expeditious Investigation and Trial of Criminal Cases Against Influential Public Personalities in March 2012. The Law Commission has expressed the view that giving any blanket direction to set up Special Courts for trial of cases against influential public personalities ought to be avoided in view of Article 14 of the Constitution. This Report has also been placed before the Supreme Court of India in the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 341/2004 (Virender Kumar Ohri Vs. Union of India & Others).

(d)&(e): Government has allocated an amount of Rs. 2500 crore for morning/evening/shift/ Special Judicial Magistrate courts under the 13th Finance Commission Award. Out of this, Rs. 762.75 crore has been released to the State Governments. As per information received from the State Governments, 2128 morning/evening/shift/Special Judicial Magistrate courts have been set-up and a total of 31,97,696 cases have been disposed of by these courts so far.