HC initiates plea over pending criminal cases against lawmakers, seeks Centre, Delhi govt’s response

New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday initiated a petition relating to pending criminal cases against lawmakers and asked the Centre and the Delhi government to file their replies on the matter.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan also asked its own registry to respond to the plea. The bench issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government asking them to file affidavits mentioning the works done in view of a top court’s direction.
The court initiative came on a Supreme Court direction to all High Courts dated September 16 to monitor the pending criminal cases against MPs and MLAs and submit an action plan to deal with the matters.
The apex court’s direction came while observing that there was no substantial improvement in the disposal of pending criminal cases against sitting and former parliamentarians and legislators.
The Supreme Court order came on a petition filed in the year 2016 claiming that there was an inordinate delay in the disposal of criminal cases against lawmakers. (ANI)