New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from eight states and their High Courts on a suo motu case in connection with the adverse impact of stay orders granted by the appellate courts' on the pace of criminal trials'.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar recently took a suo motu note of an order passed by a bench headed by former apex court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on November 8, 2021, on the issue of adverse impact of stay orders on criminal trials.
The case titled -- "In Re: Adverse effect of stay orders granted by appellate courts on the pace of trials, despite parameters for grant of such stays, laid down by this court" -- came up for consideration on Monday for the first time before a bench led by CJI.
On the question of stay granted, the bench said that the respective High Courts could file their responses within six weeks. The bench scheduled the hearing during the week commencing March 17, 2025.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kerala and Mizoram would have to file their responses as they withdrew the general consent to the CBI to probe cases within their territory.
The bench further ordered a copy of the affidavit filed by the CBI to be served on the standing counsel of the respective states.
While dealing with a petition filed by the CBI in November 2021, the apex court flagged the issue of stay orders granted by the appellate courts and its adverse impact. "The second aspect with which we find ourselves concerned is the stay orders granted by the appellate courts and thus the pace of trial getting adversely affected, despite this court having laid down parameters for grant of such stays," the top court said in its November 8, 2021 order.
"We thus deem it appropriate that this aspect should be placed before the Chief Justice of India for his consideration and appropriate orders as it may not have any direct connection with the present case," the apex court had said.
The issue emerged after the apex court noted that the CBI's appeal against the High Court order was filed after a delay of 542 days. Earlier, the CBI was asked to bring on record the steps to be taken to strengthen its prosecution unit, the bottlenecks, and the conviction rate in matters probed by the agency.
