Madras High Court Calls For Setting Up Of Two Special Courts To Exclusively Hear UAPA Cases, Seeks Report From Central And State Govts

The bench of Justice Anita Sumanth and Justice Sunder Mohan have suo motu impleaded the Secretary to Government, Ministry of Home Affairs, Union of India, and the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Home (Courts – II) Department, Secretariat, Chennai in a case and sought a compliance report with respect to the directions.

“In order to ensure the implementation of the directions as above, for constitution of two exclusive Special Courts to hear UAPA cases, we suo motu implead the Secretary to Government, Union of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi – 110 001 and Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Home (Courts-II) Department, Secretariat, Chennai,” the court said.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by an accused in a UAPA case, against the order of the Special Court rejecting his bail. Though the court refused to grant him bail, the court noted that the trial in the case had been going on since 2023.

The court highlighted that the trial of cases registered under the NIA Act had to be improved and the cases had to be disposed of within 1 year of filing of the chargesheet.

“The pace and progress of the trial of matters relating to the NIA Act has necessarily to be improved such that the disposal is, as far as possible, within one year from filing of charge sheet. In Re:Creation of Special Exclusive Courts, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has been monitoring creation of Special Courts exclusively for trial of NIA cases,” the court noted.

The court also took note of an Office Memorandum dated January 7, 2026, that was submitted by the Central Government to the Supreme Court in the case of In Re: Creation of Special Exclusive Courts, which dealt with the norms for reimbursement of expenditure incurred by the States for setting up and maintaining Special Courts exclusively for the trial of NIA cases.

The court noted that Tamil Nadu was one of the 17 States where more than 10 trials under the NIA Act were pending and, as a pilot project, all 17 States had agreed to establish one exclusive NIA court to deal with NIA/UAPA cases with the financial assistance offered by the Central Government. The Supreme Court had directed that the Special Courts should not be entrusted with any other work and the presiding officers were directed to take up trials on a day-to-day basis.

The court also noted that on June 23, 2026, the Central Government had written to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Registrar General of the High Court requesting them to constitute Special Courts exclusively for NIA Cases in Tamil Nadu and seeking particulars of the court that may be designated as an exclusive NIA court. The court also took note of the proposal set by the court itself to the Additional Chief Secretary for the constitution of Special Courts.

Thus, the court impleaded the Central and State governments and sought details regarding the implementation of exclusive NIA courts.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. Vikram Veerasamy

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. ARL. Sundaresan Additional Solicitor General Assisted By Mr. T. Shanmugam and Mr. G. Siddi Ramulu for NIA Cases

Case Title: Mohamed Thalha v The Union of India and Others

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 412

Case No: CRL A No 328 of 2025