The Supreme Court's direction to the Centre to set up
fasttrack courts to prosecute pending cases against legislators is welcome. The
apex court has given the Centre six weeks to submit a scheme of fast-track courts.
The government should comply , with the Opposition cooperating. The Election
Commission supports a lifetime ban in politics for those convicted of serious
crime. The appeals process should be expedited, too, as every convict has the
right of appeal. This could present a knotty problem, if the preferential
allocation of scarce higher judiciary time to cases involving politicians is
challenged on right-to-equality grounds.
A fast-track court and a lifetime ban would incentivise
politi cal parties to be more discerning in their choice of candidates. A
speedy judicial process would also put the brakes on re gistering unfounded or
politically moti vated cases. This should be an opportuni ty for the government
to focus on impro ving the manner in which courts are staf fed. This would have
a salutary effect on the entire criminal justice system. While this is an
important step towards decriminalising the political system, it is not
sufficient. The government in consultation with political parties must address
the issue of political funding. This is central to reforming the political
system.
The shift in the Supreme Court's approach is heartening.
Soon after assuming office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested
setting up fast-track courts to deal with cases against legislators in a
time-bound manner. At that time the Supreme Court had not favoured the
proposal. It argued that it would be wrong to treat criminal cases against
politicians as a distinct and special category . Instead, it asked the government
to devise a system to fast track all cases.
