The Delhi High Court has resolved to withdraw all other cases being heard by the two special designated National Investigation Agency (NIA) courts and assign them to three newly created courts of additional sessions judge (ASJ) in view of the pendency. In an affidavit filed on a petition by a UAPA accused seeking a day-to-day hearing in his case pending before a special NIA court, the high court administration has said that its Administrative and General Supervision Committee has resolved that the withdrawn cases from “ASJ-02” and “ASJ-03”, which are the designated courts in New Delhi District, shall be assigned to the new ASJ courts by the concerned Principal District and Sessions Judge. “The Court of ASJ-02 shall continue to deal with fresh/pending cases filed in it being a Special Court under Section 22 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008... It shall continue to deal with all the pending cases under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) as well as fresh such cases to be filed before it as per the existing practice,” said the resolution mentioned in the affidavit filed by the joint registrar of the high court. “Similarly, the court of ASJ-03 shall continue to deal with fresh/pending cases filed in it being a Special Court for the trial of Scheduled Offences investigated by the NIA… as well as cases under Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, 1999,” it added.
The affidavit further informed that the Principal District and Sessions Judge, who is also a designated court, shall also transfer the pending cases under the NIA Act to the court of “ASJ-03” to facilitate their expeditious disposal. “All other cases pending before the said two courts of ASJ-02 and ASJ-03 be immediately withdrawn and be assigned to the newly created ASJ courts by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, New Delhi while ensuring equitable distribution,” it added. The affidavit stated that to accommodate the newly established ASJ courts, five metropolitan courts would be shifted to Rouse Avenue Court Complex and the same has been approved by the Full Court and that the matter regarding the posting of judicial officers in the newly created courts of “ASJ-05”, “ASJ-06” and “ASJ-07” is already under process. “Considering that the pendency in the courts in New Delhi District including the court of ASJ-02 and ASJ 03 is high because of non-availability of courtrooms for creation of additional courts in the Patiala House Court Complex, it is resolved that the 5 courts of MM (NI Act) in the said District be shifted to the Rouse Avenue Court Complex, to enable the creation of more ASJ courts,” the affidavit informed. It also said that one of the new ASJ courts would be additionally designated as the Special Court under the SC/ST Act and the SEBI Act as well as designated court try sessions to cases investigated by Special Cell, Delhi Police. In December last year, the high court had said that it was paramount that cases under the UAPA are tried expeditiously and it was for the high court authorities to consider the issue and make appropriate recommendations for establishing exclusive courts for their trial.
The court had observed that since the cases under UAPA involved serious offences and foreign nationals, it was not easy for those in custody to secure bail and the trials took a considerable amount of time. Lawyer Gaurav Agrawal, appearing for the high court, had informed that there were two designated special courts for NIA in the city for the trial of UAPA cases and the listing of non-UAPA cases had no impact on the status of UAPA cases. While only 12 cases were pending before one court and charges were framed in 9 of them, there was a “slight difficulty” concerning the pendency of UAPA cases in the second designated court on account of the time taken for trials to be concluded, he had said. In September, the high court administration had stated that as on July 31, a total of 37 cases about the National Investigation Agency (NIA) were pending before the two designated courts in the Patiala House Court complex here i.e. a sessions judge and the district & sessions judge. In the petition filed through lawyer Kartik Murukutla, the petitioner Manzar Imam has sought a direction to ensure that the special courts under Act deal exclusively with NIA investigated scheduled offences and claimed that all NIA accused were “languishing for years on end”, in violation of the fundamental right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. He has stated that he has been in custody for eight years and there was a delay in the trial in his case on account of there being only two designated courts which were also hearing non-NIA cases including bail matters, other IPC offences, and MCOCA matters. The petitioner was arrested in August 2013 pursuant to an NIA case alleging that the members of the Indian Mujahideen, in association with the other IM sleeper cells based in the country and others, were conspiring to commit terrorist acts and making preparation for targeting various important and prominent places of India. The FIR was registered for the alleged commission of offences under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.
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