Courts told to clear corruption backlog
In its bid to put in place a concrete anti-corruption mechanism, the government has asked the chief justices of all 21 high courts in the country to fast track pending graft-related cases by ensuring decisions are taken within a definite time period.
Following the setting up of a nine-member group of ministers (GoM) to finalise a framework to tackle corruption, law minister M Veerappa Moily, in his letter to the chief justices, has recommended cases of corruption in high courts and lower courts be given top priority.
The seven issues being looked into by the GoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, include time-bound disposal of corruption cases involving public servants.
The issue was first raised by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi during the party's plenary session last month. She had asked for fast tracking of "all cases concerning corruption, including politicians".
Moily has told the chief justices that "while dealing with the pendency of cases in courts, cases of corruption" should be their main focus.
"The government wants to monitor cases of corruption pending in courts, especially in high courts and below, so these can be decided within a limited time frame."
In his letter, the minister has pointed out that the Centre has set up 71 special CBI courts to fast track such cases and other offences probed by the top investigating agencies.
"In some states, special lokayukta courts and other designated courts have been set-up to decide corruption cases quickly," he said.
Moily wrote, "I would seek to benefit from your views on whether the number of courts are adequate and what further needs to be done immediately to ensure time bound decisions in such cases."
Chief Justice of India (CJI), Justice SH Kapadia had last month asked chief justices of all the HCs to "ensure cases in respect of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, be fast tracked and be taken up for hearing on priority basis both at the high courts and district levels."
Currently, there is no separate record of the number of pending corruption cases.
The total number of pending cases in India is above three crore.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Delhi rain: Traffic glacial as impact of rain spills on to streets
Heavy traffic was seen on Najafgarh Road, Zakhira flyover, Sarita Vihar underpass, Bawana industrial area, Civil Lines, Rohini, Deoli-Khanpur, and also at Rajgarh Colony in Shahdara area due to religious processions and waterlogging.
-
Delhi got half its July rain in a day
The arrival of monsoon was declared on Thursday, when it began raining early in the morning. From 8.30am on Thursday to 8.30am on Friday — the period between the two morning hours is how IMD classifies its 24-hour period — the city recorded 117.2mm. Normally, Delhi records 210.6mm of rain in July. Throughout Friday, there was significantly less rainfall, and the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung weather station (considered representative of Delhi’s) settled at 31.9°C, 2.5 degrees more than Thursday.
-
Delhi LG converts 128 temporary doctor posts to permanent ones
Fresh recruitment will be done via an open selection process for these newly converted posts. Those occupying the posts will not qualify to be permanent without participating in the open selections. Officials said that the LG has asked concerned officials to process the filling of vacancies and upgradation at the earliest, unduly pending for years.
-
15 BA.5 cases logged in 2 hospitals; Capital adds 813 Covid-19 infections
The BA.5 is overtaking other Omicron lineage coronaviruses in several parts of the world, reinforcing early signs that it has a growth advantage after having triggered new waves in some regions. Dr Ekta Gupta, professor of clinical virology at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), said, “At ILBS, we have reported seven-eight cases of BA.5 so far. This is out of the samples we received from across the city.”
-
Delhi: Drain lines in 39 unauthorised colonies to help clean Yamuna
The decisions were taken in the meeting of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Friday at the Delhi secretariat and a government official later said the move was in line with the Arvind Kejriwal government’s larger vision of cleaning the Yamuna.
