Supreme Court strict on the criminal case of Hon’ble: State governments will not be able to withdraw the criminal cases of MP-MLA, the old cases withdrawn will also be reopened

Now the state governments will not be able to withdraw the criminal cases against MPs and MLAs. For this the approval of the High Court of the concerned state would be necessary. The Supreme Court said this during the hearing of a petition filed to stop the MPs and MLAs convicted in criminal cases from contesting elections forever. The court has also asked to reopen the withdrawn cases of MPs and MLAs after September 2020.

The petition was filed by Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. In this, there has also been a demand for setting up of special courts for speedy disposal of cases of MPs and MLAs. A three-judge bench in the Supreme Court heard the matter. It included Chief Justice AV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vineet Saran.

Instructions for reopening closed cases of MP-MLA
The Supreme Court has appealed to all the State High Courts to re-examine all the cases withdrawn against MPs and MLAs from September 2020 onwards, citing the judgment in K Ajit vs Government of Kerala. The CJI also ordered the Registrar General of all the High Courts to produce the pending cases and the chart of the cases disposed of.

Chief Justice reprimands CBI
During the hearing of the case, the court’s associate lawyer Vijay Hansaria told the court that he has received the status report from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding such cases, but the CBI has not yet submitted the status report. On this, the Chief Justice reprimanded the CBI and said, ‘We are sure that the government is very serious on this issue and wants to do something, but till now no progress has been made. What can you expect from us when you (CBI) don’t even want to file a status report?’

Appeal from the government to give a chance
In response, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, sought more time from the court to submit the status report. Mehta said, “We had filed a report on behalf of the ED yesterday. The Director of CBI has also been asked to submit the status report at the earliest. The Solicitor General appealed to the court to give one last chance in this case.

Karnataka withdraws 61 MP-MLA cases
Earlier, the court’s associate counsel Hansaria said that the Karnataka government has withdrawn the cases against 61 MPs and MLAs. The court should also consider this.

Criminal cases returned in UP-Uttarakhand too
Hansaria said that many state governments, including UP and Uttarakhand, have withdrawn criminal cases against the guilty public representatives through their orders.

Court friend appealed to the Supreme Court for intervention
Hansaria said that the Supreme Court should pass an order in this matter that without the order of the High Court of the concerned state, the state governments cannot withdraw the criminal cases of the guilty MPs-MLAs.

CBI and Special Court will continue the hearing
The Supreme Court said that the judges hearing such cases against MP-MLA in the CBI Court and Special Court will continue the hearing till further orders.

The next hearing of the case will be on August 25.
The Chief Justice adjourned the hearing of the case for two weeks on the request of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Now the court will hear the matter on August 25.