Allahabad HC wants report on MP, MLA cases

On the eve of Assembly elections, the Allahabad high court has queered the pitch for the Akhilesh government by asking for a status report on criminal cases pending against MPs, MLAs and MLCs.

The court has also asked state governments to explain by August 4 what steps it has taken to speed up the cases against elected representatives.

The court order was given by a division bench comprising Justice Arun Tandon and Justice Sunita Agarwal on a public interest litigation filed by lawyer Ashutosh Gupta, who claimed that criminal cases were pending against 36 MPs in the state.

The petitioner further alleged that the failure of the state to decide criminal cases against lawmakers expeditiously amounted to non-compliance of a Supreme Court order of 2014 wherein it was laid down that trial in cases lodged against MPs, MLAs and MLCs must be decided within a year of framing of charges.

According to home department records, criminal cases in Uttar Pradesh are pending against 189 legislators and 22 members of legislative council.

Chargesheets have been filed in cases against only 74 MPs and legislators, while others are still under investigation.

The petitioner told the court that some of the cases have been pending since almost 25 years and various governments have not shown any inclination to expedite the cases due to political reasons.

Almost every political party in Uttar Pradesh has its share of criminal MPs and legislators. UP ministers Raghuraj Pratap Singh, aka Raja Bhaiyya, Tej Narain Pandey, Mehboob Ali, Durga Yadav, Ram Murti Varma are among those who have criminal records.

The Akhilesh government has liberally dropped cases against several of its own leaders, as well as some from the Opposition. Union minister Kalraj Misra and former union minister Ram Shankar Katehria were among the beneficiaries.

A senior SP minister against whom cases have also been withdrawn said, “The cases that were withdrawn were those that were set up due to political rivalry in the BSP regimes. The police decided to drop the cases after proper investigation.”

Political analyst Dr Ramesh Dixit said that the governments were not interested in expediting the cases because these were often used as tools to keep legislators under control.

“Sometimes, governments use cases against MLAs with criminal antecedents to bring them on to the treasury benches and also to keep their own legislators form revolting. It suits every party in power.”