‘Expeditious hearing should start with SC’
ADARSH SCAM FALLOUT Matters involving lawmakers, politicians should be speedily cleared, with the constitution of special courts
NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that expeditious hearing of matters involving lawmakers and politicians should start with the top court.
The observation was made by a bench of justice J Chelameswar and justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul while they were hearing former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan’s plea against the Bombay high Court order refusing to delete his name from the FIR filed in connection with the Adarsh society scam case.
The bench fixed March 13 for the final disposal of his petition. Till then, it said the trial court will not proceed with the case.
Referring to media reports about the SC directing constitution of special courts to speed up trials of criminal cases against lawmakers and politicians within a year, the bench said, “It must start with the Supreme Court.” The reason why the bench made the statement was because Chavan’s case has been pending in SC since 2015 and no effective hearing has taken place since a notice was issued to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the prosecuting agency in the case. Chavan had filed an appeal against the 2014 high court order, which declined him relief in the scam. The high court had refused to entertain the CBI’S plea to delete Chavan’s name from the FIR. The agency had then moved the high court after the trial court dismissed his plea seeking the deletion.
Chavan faces trial for allowing civilians to become members of the Adarsh society, which was essentially for defence personnel. During his time as revenue minister in Maharashtra, Chavan had also permitted Adarsh to earmark 15% of the society land for recreational purposes.