51 former and sitting MPs face trial under PMLA, SC told

Fiftyone former and sitting parliamentarians face Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate the Supreme Court has been informedHowever the report does not mention how many of the 51 are sitting and former members of parliament MPsA report submitted before the top court also apprised it that 71 Members of Legislative Assembly MLAs and Members of Legislative Council MLCs are accused in cases arising out of offences under Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria who has been appointed as amicus curiae in a plea for expeditious disposal of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs informed the top court in his report in this regardAlso Read SC agrees to list for hearing PIL seeking judicial probe into Morbi bridge collapse in GujaratThe status report also informed that 121 cases lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI are pending against MPs and MLAs including former and sitting membersThe top court from time to time has been passing directions on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay for ensuring expeditious trial of cases against lawmakers and speedy investigation by the CBI and other agenciesThe amicus submitted that despite a series of directions by the Supreme Court and regular monitoring a large number of criminal cases are pending against MPs and MLAs many for more than five yearsThe apex court had earlier asked all high courts to furnish details of criminal cases pending for over five years against MPs and MLAs and the steps taken for their speedy disposalIt had also modified its August 10 2021 order by which it had said judicial officers who are holding trial of cases against law makers should not be changed without the prior permission of the courtOn August 10 last year the Supreme Court had curtailed the power of state prosecutors and ruled that they cannot withdraw prosecution against lawmakers under the Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC without the prior sanction of high courtsIt had expressed strong displeasure over the nonfiling of requisite status reports by the Centre and its agencies such as the CBI and indicated it would set up a special bench in the top court to monitor criminal cases against politiciansThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever