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The Allahabad High Court has expressed concern that high-priority criminal cases involving Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) are either being listed before non-designated courts of the HC or placed too low in the cause list, effectively preventing their hearing.

A Bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Indrajeet Shukla observed that the High Court's administrative directions and observations made in earlier orders may not yet have been implemented effectively.

"It is a little surprising to note that though these are high priorities cases, each one of the cases has either been listed before the non-designated Court or before the designated Court low down in the cause list", the Court observed in its order.

The Bench was hearing the suo motu public interest litigation registered in 2023 in compliance with the Supreme Court's direction to expedite and monitor the disposal of criminal cases pending against the MPs and MLAs across the state.

The Court made the observations after taking on record a report from the High Court's administrative department detailing certain cases pending before the HC.

It gave instance of 3 matters which were either listed before a non-designated court or low in the cause list.

Taking note of the same, the Bench said that when a matter is listed before a non-designated court, the concerned court has to mark it as “wrongly listed” and leave it out, preventing a hearing.

Similarly, it said that placing cases low in the cause list effectively prevents their hearing due to the heavy roster arrangements commonly experienced by High Court benches.

In view of this, the Registrar (Judicial) (Listing) was directed to ensure that the identified cases are listed before the appropriate designated courts under the appropriate heading.

"Only then the parties specially the State may be enjoined with the further obligation to make proper mentioning before the Court concerned to ensure speedy disposal", the bench remarked.

The Court also examined the issue of the portal used to monitor MP/MLA cases. The bench observed that although some progress had been made, its parameters required further refinement.

It said subsequent trial stages and corresponding fields should be generated only after completion of earlier stages. For instance, the bench said, the field concerning framing of charges should be generated only after cognizance has been taken.

The Bench suggested that the portal indicate, through appropriate colour coding, whether prescribed timelines are being met at each stage of the trial.

"Wherever proceedings may be stuck up or delayed for any reason, appropriate fields may be created to be filled up by the Court concerned to generate and disclose, indicatively the reason. Those reasons may also be generated through a drop-down menu", it suggested.

It also said the portal should automatically generate periodic reports, enabling administrators to assess whether proceedings are being conducted efficiently or are experiencing delays.

"Only after such arrangements are made, it may become possible to effectively monitor and supervise such trials to ensure efficient conclusion of such proceedings", the Court observed.

The Committee constituted earlier was asked to address these issues and obtain responses from judicial officers. The Court also asked Additional Advocate General-I Rupak Chaubey to obtain responses from the State prosecution wing.

The Bench further noted that the report did not clearly establish which trial court records lay with the High Court after the conclusion of proceedings and which original records remained with the High Court despite the trials remaining pending.

It directed that a revised chart must include additional columns specifying the stage of trial proceedings in each case. Observing that considerable time had already been lost, the Court expected the Committee to act expeditiously.

The Registrar (Judicial) (Criminal) was directed to submit the revised chart within three weeks. The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 6.

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