Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court has directed district and sessions judges to ensure expeditious disposal of cases against members of Parliament and Legislative Assembly (MPs and MLAs) by the designated courts under their respective jurisdictions.
A total of 423 cases are pending against MPs and MLAs in Odisha. While 24 cases were instituted, 17 were disposed of last year, according to reports received from all district and session judges of the state. Khurda figured on top of the list with 86 cases, followed by Sambalpur (53), Ganjam (51), Koraput (48), Sundargarh (41) and Cuttack (36). Cases registered as far back as 1991 are pending in Koraput district.
The reports were submitted while the high court was hearing the suo motu case “In Re-designated courts for MPs/MLAs” registered by it on December 11 last year in pursuance of a Supreme Court direction. It had then asked the district and sessions judges to furnish statement showing institution, disposal and pendency of such cases.
The division bench of acting Chief Justice B R Sarangi and Justice M S Raman posted further monitoring of the matter to two weeks later.
According to the Supreme Court direction, the bench expected designated courts to give priority to the criminal cases against MPs and MLAs punishable with death or life imprisonment, then to the cases punishable with imprisonment for five years or more and then hear all other cases and not to adjourn the cases except for rare and compelling reasons.
