Lok Prahari Through Its General Secretary S. N. Shukla, Ias (Retd. ) Advocate vs. Union Of India

ITEM NO.302 Court 1 (Video Conferencing) SECTION PILW

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition(Civil) No.699/2016

ASHWINI KUMAR UPADHYAY Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ANR. Respondent(s)

(MR. VIJAY HANSARIA, (SR.ADV.) IS AMICUS CURIAE IN THE INSTANT MATTER. NOT PRESENT TODAY)

(ONLY I.A NOS. 146253, 143761, 136621, 136627 OF 2021 IN WRIT PETITION ARE TO BE LISTED AND THE NAMES OF ONLY THE FOLLOWING ADVOCATES MAY BE TREATED AS SHOWN: [1] MR. VIJAY HANSARIA, SR. ADVOCATE (AMICUS CURIAE) (NOT PRESENT) [2] MR. SANDEEP SUDHAKAR DESHMUKH (FOR HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY) [3] MR. SUNNY CHOUDHARY (FOR HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD) [4] MR. ASHOK MATHUR (FOR HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA) [5] MR. ASHWANI KUMAR DUBEY, ADVOCATE FOR THE PETITIONER)

(IA No. 146253/2021 APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION, IA No.143761/2021 APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS, IA No. 136627/2021 APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS & IA No. 136621/2021 INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT)

Date : 13112021 These applications were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURYA KANT

For Petitioner(s)

Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.

For Respondent(s)

For UOI Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG Ms. Neela Kedar Gokhle, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Akhil, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. A.K. Sharma, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., Adv. Ms. Sunita Sharma, Adv. Mr. R.R. Rajesh, Adv. Digitally signed by Vishal Anand Date: 2021.11.13 17:43:34 IST Reason: Signature Not Verified

**Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR (**Amicus Curiae) For High Court Mr. Nidhesh Gupta, Sr. Adv. of P&H Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR For High Court Mr. Sandeep Sudhakar Deshmukh, AOR of Bombay For High Court Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR of Allahabad For State of Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv. Maharashtra Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv. Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv. For State of UP Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, AOR For State of Mr. Anil Grover, SR.AAG, Haryana Haryana Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, Adv. Ms. Noopur Singhal, Adv. Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, AOR Ms. Babita Mishra, Adv. For State of Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Punjab Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR Mr. Shiv Ram Sharma, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Ms. Jesal Wahi, AOR Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Mr. Kabir Dixit, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Karan Bharihoke, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Annam D. N. Rao, AOR Mr. Anupam Raina, AOR Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad, AOR

Ms. Deepika Gupta, Adv. M/s. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Swarupama Chaturvedi, AOR Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Mahesh Thakur, AOR Mr. Apoorv Kurup, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AOR Mr. Satish Pandey, AOR Ms. Rachana Srivastava, AOR Mr. Anandh Kannan N., AOR Mr. Ambhoj Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR Intervenorinperson Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR Ms. Uttara Babbar, AOR M/S. Gorkela Law Office, AOR Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, AOR Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR Mr. G. N. Reddy, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Abhimanue Shrestha, AOR Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR M/s.PLR Chambers And Co., AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

The Court is convened through Video Conferencing.

This Court on 1082021 inter alia passed the following Order:

"In the meanwhile, to ensure expeditious disposal of

pending cases, it is necessary for this Court to direct the officers presiding over Special Courts or CBI Courts involving prosecution of MPs or MLAs to continue in their present posts until fi1rther orders.

This direction, barring transfer of judicial officers, will be subject to their superannuation or death. If any further necessity or emergency arises, the Registrar General of the High Courts are at liberty to make an application before us for retention or to relieve those officers ".

Now, learned counsel appearing for the applicant viz. Registrar General, High Court of Bombay has filed two applications i.e. (i) application seeking impleadment as a party respondent in Writ Petition (Civil) No.699 of 2016 and (ii) for appropriate directions.

Taking into consideration the averments made in the application seeking impleadment of the applicant as a party respondent, the said application is allowed in terms of prayer made therein.

Cause title be amended accordingly.

It is averred that pursuant to the liberty granted vide the above Order dated 1082021, the said application is filed seeking permission of this Court to transfer one of the specially designated Court Judge dealing with Criminal Cases involving MPs/MLAs in the State of Maharashtra, Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli viz. Shri H.S. Satbhai, Judge, City Civil and Sessions Court and Additional Sessions Judge, Mumbai, Maharashtra from his current charge/posting and to further transfer the said Judicial Officer to Kelapur, District Yavatmal, Maharashtra, on account of `administrative exigencies' noticed by the Committee consisting of Administrative Judges of the Bombay High Court in its meeting held on 06.10.2021.

Taking into consideration the averments made in the said application, the same is allowed in terms of prayer made therein, subject to the condition that the High Court/State shall provide suitable substitute in place of Mr. H.S. Satbhai immediately so as

to ensure expeditious disposal of the cases pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs.

Similarly, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad through Registrar General has sought permission of this Court in terms of the direction issued vide Orders dated 10.08.2021 and 11.08.2021 of this Court to transfer Sri Alok Kumar Srivastava, H.J.S., presently posted as Presiding Officer, Special Court (MP/MLA), Allahabad and Sri Pawan Kumar Rai, H.J.S., presently posted as Additional District & Sessions Judge in the Special Court (Mps/MLAs), Lucknow to other suitable posts on administrative grounds.

It is further contended in the said application that the trial of Criminal Cases pending against the sitting and former Member(s) of Parliament (MPs) and Member(s) of State Legislative Assembly (MLAs) under the jurisdiction of Special Courts, Allahabad and Lucknow will not be delayed on account of transfer of Sri Alok Kumar Srivastava, presently posted as Presiding Officer, Special Court (MPs/MLAs), Allahabad and Sri Pawan Kumar Rai, presently posted as Additional District & Sessions Judge in the Special Court (MPs/MLAs), Lucknow and suitable Officers shall be appointed without any delay, if the transfer is permitted by this Court.

Taking into consideration the averments made in the said application, the same is allowed in terms of the prayer made therein, subject to the condition that suitable Officers shall be appointed without any delay so as to ensure expeditious disposal of cases pending against sitting and former MPs/MLAs.

The High Court of Punjab & Haryana has also filed an application stating therein that there are 49 Officers presently presiding over Special Courts or CBI Courts dealing with cases involving prosecution of MPs or MLAs.

It has further been mentioned in the said application that the applicant High Court of Punjab & Haryana is contemplating to transfer certain Judicial officers in the interest of better administration and exigencies, which includes one/two Judicial

Officers, dealing with cases involving prosecution of MPs or MLAs.

Taking into consideration the averments made in the application filed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana, the same is allowed in terms of the prayer made, subject to the condition that the Courts dealing with cases involving MPs or MLAs in the said State shall be provided with immediate substitute Judicial Officers on the same day and the said Court shall not be left vacant for a single day as it should not affect expeditious proceedings to be conducted in such Courts in any manner whatsoever.

Interlocutory Application Nos. 136621/2021, 136627/2021, 143761/2021 & 146253/2021 are allowed in the aforestated terms.

As prayed by Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned Senior counsel appearing for the petitioners seeking urgent listing of the Writ Petitions, the Registry is directed to list the Writ Petitions (Crl.) Nos.442/2021, 443/2021 and 444/2021 on Monday, the 15th November, 2021 along with the Writ Petition (Civil) No.699 of 2016.

Ms. Sneha Kalita, learned Amicus Curiae is directed to serve a copy of 12th Status Report to Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned Senior counsel and to all concerned immediately.

(VISHAL ANAND) (R.S. NARAYANAN) ASTT. REGISTRARcumPS COURT MASTER (NSH)