Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday defended the government’s decision to set up fast track courts for dealing with criminal cases against politicians and said lawmakers should take the lead in setting an example.
After Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha expressed concern over the decision, Mr. Jaitley, who is also Leader of the House, said he felt that like Caesar’s wife, lawmakers should be above suspicion. “As elected representatives, can lawmakers say their trial should be delayed,” he asked.
Earlier, Opposition parties, led by the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, raised the issue of the Supreme Court’s recent directive to the Centre to draft a scheme for setting up fast track courts to deal exclusively with criminal cases involving legislators and politicians.
Raising the issue through a point of order, Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party said Article 14 of the Constitution provides for equity before law and elected representatives are on a par with other citizens. While there were no special courts to fast-track the trial of terrorists and dreaded criminals, setting up such a court for elected representatives would create a misleading perception of politicians, he said. He questioned the government’s affidavit supporting the fast-track courts.
Anand Sharma of the Congress said that while there was no question of delaying prosecution of anyone, it would amount to profiling and excessive vilification of lawmakers if a perception was created that fast-track courts were needed only for the elected representatives. The government, he said, should ensure that enough funds were allocated for creation of enough number of courts to fast-track trial of all. But singling out the elected representatives would create a perception that could be abused by the government of the day, he said.
