CJI: Probe Agencies hit by lack of Manpower & Infrastructure

Greeva Garg – 

Published on August 25, 2021, at 15:38 IST

The Supreme Court of India while hearing a petition remarked the overburdened situation of Probe agencies suffered from the dearth of manpower and infrastructure, just like the Judiciary.

The Special Bench of three judges, led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, also comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant, was hearing a petition notifying an alarming situation about hundreds of pending criminal cases against MPs and MLAs, both sitting and Former, for years. 

Some of the cases have been pending for over a decade even under investigation by CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“Just like us, investigative agencies are suffering from lack of manpower and infrastructure. Everybody says CBI, we don’t want to demoralise the investigative agencies. They are just overburdened. Similarly, one Trial Court handles 1000 cases. How do you expect them to function? We had asked for Special Courts to hear exclusively cases under specific legislation but nothing worked,” CJI remarked.

The report provided by the ED and CBI is really shocking and disturbing as it stated, “Out of the 121 cases pending trial against MPs/MLAs before the CBI courts across the country, 58 cases were punishable with life imprisonment. In 45 cases, even the charges have not been framed, though the offences were alleged to have been committed several years back. A total of 37 CBI cases against legislators were continuing in the stage of investigation for years on end now. One of these cases, according to the CBI, was expected to be completed by 2030.”

Regarding the delay in the cases, the CJI directed the concerned authorities to rather quickly investigate, complete the pending trial proceedings and decide the matters in a mandatory time-bound manner, instead of hanging heads.

The Apex Court decided to set a mechanism in place to monitor the progress of criminal cases from its investigation till the final decision, including the cases in Special Courts.

Also Read: CJI NV Ramana: PV Narasimha Rao father of Economic Reforms in India

Affidavit filed in Supreme Court by UP Govt for cases against sitting, Ex-MPs, MLAs

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