The Supreme Court on Monday directed States to expedite the establishment and notification of exclusive special courts for trial of cases under the National Investigation Agency Act. The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana noted that 22 exclusive NIA courts have now been established, but flagged delays in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Advocate-General for Karnataka informed that in Karnataka, three courts proposed at Bengaluru, Chikkamagaluru and Udupi are likely to be notified within two weeks. Kerala has been directed to establish and notify two courts within four weeks, while Tamil Nadu and Telangana have been asked to operationalise one additional court each within two weeks.
The Court emphasised that the purpose of exclusive courts was to ensure time-bound trials, noting:
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“Most of the states have established exclusive special courts for trial of Section 11 NIA cases. They have also kept in mind that not more than 10-12 cases will be entrusted to one court to ensure that the trial is concluded in a time-bound manner. Some of the states have already established the requisite courts, as is evident from the status report filed by NIA. However, there are some states where the requisite courts have yet not been established.”
In West Bengal, the Court was informed that 50 NIA cases were pending, while only two exclusive courts were functioning. The State was therefore required to establish three more courts. Assam was directed to expedite its pending proposal for two additional courts within four weeks.
The Bench also reviewed the status of exclusive NDPS courts, noting that 176 of the 449 identified courts are presently operational. It observed that, in view of the increasing pendency and “unfortunate, alarming increase in offences under that Act,” the remaining requisite courts should be established at the earliest, preferably within six months.
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