Fast-track courts shut down in Rajasthan after Centre stops funding

Almost five years down the line, Rajasthan is yet to execute recommendations of law commissions to set up fast-track courts to speed up disposal of pending cases.

Almost five years down the line, Rajasthan is yet to execute recommendations of law commissions to set up fast-track courts to speed up disposal of pending cases.

In Rajasthan, 83 fast-track courts were approved in 2000, and all were functional till 2011. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Giving its verdict on a bunch of petitions that sought action against cow protection groups, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday that fast-track courts (FTCs) will be designated for the day-to-day trial of lynching and mob violence cases.

In Rajasthan, 83 FTCs were approved in 2000, and all were functional till 2011. When the Centre stopped financial support to the courts, the state government rolled them back in a few years.

“The state government is going to soon establish 92 courts, including 35 POCSO courts. After establishing these courts, if the government feels the need, then they should think of fast-track courts,” said NM Lodha, the Rajasthan government’s advocate-general.

Rajasthan figures among top seven states in pendency of cases. Till March this year, 2,60,523 cases were pending in the Rajasthan high court, and 14,48,151 in district and subordinate courts.

The states with most number of functional fast-track courts are in Uttar Pradesh (183), Maharashtra (100), Tamil Nadu (39), Bihar (51) ), Andhra Pradesh (38) and Telangana (34), law ministry data shows.

Recommendations for fast-track courts

The Central Law Commission, in 2003 and 2008, had recommended setting up of permanent fast-track courts for commercial cases and ad hoc ones for other crimes to clear backlogs.

After the ‘Nirbhaya’ gangrape and murder, the Justice JS Verma committee on criminal law reforms urged states to set up fast-track courts for trying sexual assault cases to guarantee speedy justice.

The 14th Finance Commission has also endorsed a proposal for establishing 1,800 courts for five years, and allocated Rs 214 crore to the Rajasthan government for the establishment of fast-track courts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter on April 23, 2015, urged state governments to allocate funds for the activities mentioned in the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations from their own budgets from 2015-16 onwards.

In a conference of chief ministers and chief justices held in April 2013, it was resolved that state governments, in consultation with chief justices of high courts, take steps to establish FTCs to expedite cases relating to offences against women, children, differently abled persons, senior citizens and marginalised sections of the society. States were asked to provide funds for setting up FTCs and running them.

The union law and justice minister urged chief ministers and chief justices of high courts to implement the resolution of the conference vide letters dated June 3, 2015, September 26, 2016, and May 2, 2017.

Fast-track courts were meant to expeditiously clear the large-scale pendency in district and subordinate courts under a time-bound programme.