Chief justice asks all major courts in India to "fast-track" backlog of thousands of pending corruption cases, the Hindustan Times reports
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) – India’s chief justice has asked all major courts in the country to “fast-track” the backlog of thousands of corruption cases pending before the judiciary, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.
In letters addressed to the chief justices of all the high courts, the country’s most senior judge S.H. Kapadia is quoted as telling them “to ensure cases in respect of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988 be fast-tracked and taken up for hearing on a priority basis”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had registered 2,439 cases against civil servants, including senior officials under the anti-corruption act in the last three years and the current year up to March, the paper said.
The Supreme Court, which has also been told to follow this order, has already directed the cases to be immediately processed, the report quoted a senior court official as saying.
Corruption scandals have dominated the headlines in India in recent weeks. They include a telecoms licence scam which may have cost India $39 billion in lost revenue - equivalent to the defence budget.
Other graft scandals include a bribes-for-loans banking scheme, a housing scam in the western state of Maharashtra and allegations of corruption in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.
Last week the former chief secretary of India’s most populous state was jailed for four years after being found guilty of allotting land meant for poor farmers to an industrialist at favoured rates.
Neera Yadav, who was the most senior civil servant in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, was found to have shown undue favour to the businessman by giving him residential plots after reducing prices and altering eligibility criteria.
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