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| ARC for setting quick trial courts | | | EARLY TIMES DESK
JAMMU, Sept 21: Keeping in view the doctrine of "speedy trial" as suggested by the Law Commission, the Veerappa Moily panel appointed by the Centre has come out strongly in favour of setting up Special Courts for quick disposal of terrorism related cases.
The report on 'Combating Terrorism' has said a new comprehensive anti-terrorist legislation should have provisions for constitution of Special Fast Track Courts "exclusively for trial of terrorism-related cases."
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission pointed out in the report that the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) had provided for constitution of one or more Designated Courts for the trial of notified cases.
TADA also had a provision that trial of any offence under the Act by such Designated Courts would have precedence over trial of other cases against the accused in any other court and would be concluded in preference to other cases.
Even the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) had provided for constitution of Special Courts for trial of specified cases.
With both TADA and POTA having been repealed, the 185-page Moily report said the present Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act has done away with such Special Courts.
The report said the Supreme Court has also observed that to avoid "unreasonable delay," the Government should constitute more Designated Courts so that the under trials did not languish in jail indefinitely and the cases are disposed of expeditiously.
Concerned over the slow pace of proceedings in several terrorism-related cases, the Centre has asked states to set-up exclusive or separate courts to deal with them expeditiously.
In the backdrop of some major terror attack cases like the Samjhauta Express explosion and the Varanasi Sankatmochan temple blast pending before various courts for long periods, the Centre has asked state governments to set-up such courts in consultation with their respective High Courts.
A whopping 2.92 crore cases were pending in various courts in the country as on December 31 last year. Of these, 2.54 crore cases were lying before district and subordinate courts. While 1.81 crore were criminal cases, 73 lakh were civil cases.
Concerned over the huge number of pending cases, some Fast Track Courts were established and it has been decided to continue with them up to March 31, 2010.
They said central assistance is being provided to states in respect of 1,562 Fast Track Courts reported operational as on March 31, 2005.
An amount of Rs 509 crore has been provided for the operation of the scheme in the five year period from March 31, 2005.
Approximately Rs 260 crore has already been provided to the states from 2005-06 to 2007-08, they said, adding that a budget provision of Rs 75 crore has been made for the scheme in 2008-09.
As per information furnished by the states, Fast Track Courts have disposed of 18,57,098 cases out of 26,69,495 cases transferred to these courts since inception upto December 31 last year. |
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