Four courts designated as special courts for trial of pending cases against politicians: Odisha govt

The state government on Thursday informed the Orissa High Court that at least four courts have already been designated as special courts with requisite infrastructure for trial of pending cases against sitting and former MPs and MLAs. In an affidavit in response to a suo-motu petition, an additional secretary of the Home department informed the court that two additional district judge courts at Bhubaneswar and Berhampur and two magisterial courts at Bhubaneswar and Sundergarh are ready to function as special courts for the purpose.

Ten more such courts would be created as soon as the proposal is received from the High Court, the affidavit said. The state government had earlier taken a decision to create these special courts, one each in three revenue divisions and 11 courts of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) for expeditious trial of pending cases against the sitting and former MPs and MLAs.

"The Law department has been requested to engage special public prosecutors for each designated special court and all the district superintendents of police (SPs) have been requested to appoint additional SPs as nodal officers in order to ensure service of summons to the witnesses and execution of warrants," the affidavit mentioned. The affidavit further said that budget provision of Rs 36,60,360 at the supplementary stage has been placed with the Electronics and Information Technology Department to provide robust network connectivity in Orissa High Court and district judge courts to enhance the speed of internet connectivity as per the Orissa High Court Video Conferencing for Courts Rules-2020.

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