The Hindu : Front Page : Fast track courts to continue functioning till April 30

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Fast track courts to continue functioning till April 30

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30. The Supreme Court today came to the rescue of 1,700 centrally funded fast track courts (FTCs) by directing their continuance till April 30. These courts across the country faced closure after March 31 due to non-allocation of funds by the 12th Finance Commission.

A Bench comprising Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice S. H. Kapadia took a serious view of the non-allocation of funds for the continuance of the FTCs, which were started during the tenure of the former Law Minister, Arun Jaitley when the 11th Finance Commission sanctioned Rs. 502.9 crores for them till March 31, 2005.

When the matter was taken up, the Solicitor General, G.E. Vahanvati, informed the court that he could not talk to the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, on this issue as the latter had gone abroad and would be back only this evening. He said the Law Minister, H.R. Bhardwaj, was in favour of keeping the FTCs and had even recommended to the 12th Finance Commission to have another 1,500 FTCs in the next five years. But despite the Ministry's presentation no allocation was made. He said out of the Rs. 502.9 crores, the states had so far been allocated 426.13 crores and the balance amount could be utilised for running the courts.

When the Bench indicated that it would direct continuing with the FTCs, Mr. Vahanvati suggested that the matter be left to the Government, as making budgetary provisions was its sole prerogative.

The Bench said, "The apex court has been monitoring the functioning of the FTCs. The Centre has repeatedly assured it that not only the existing fast track courts would be continued for another five years, but efforts would be made to establish additional FTCs.

Look at the chaos that would result from the winding up of the FTCs, the cases have to be reheard, the Judges have to be readjusted and a long delay in the adjudication of the cases.

It might also violate Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life and liberty) of the accused as they are entitled to speedy justice."

Considering the gravity of the situation, the Bench directed continuance of the FTCs till April 30 and said detailed reasons would be given tomorrow.

The Bench directed listing of the case before a three-Judge Bench.

The Bench issued notice to the Centre and all the states seeking their response on a writ petition filed by the Chennai-based All Media Journalists Association seeking continuance of the FTCs till the year 2010.

In a related development, the Congress MP and chairman of the Department related Parliamentary standing committee for Law and Justice, E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, had a meeting with officials of the Finance Ministry and said the "ball is now before the Finance Ministry to allocate funds".

The Committee will submit its report to Parliament shortly.

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