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SC sets Dec 31 deadline for making all FTCs functional
New Delhi, Nov 03: Taking serious note of lapses on the part of 13 state governments to set up Fast Track Courts (FTCs), the Supreme Court today set December 31 as the deadline for making them functional and warned that it would consider asking return of the central grant given for the purpose if the directive is not complied with.
New Delhi, Nov 03: Taking serious note of lapses on
the part of 13 state governments to set up Fast Track Courts
(FTCs), the Supreme Court today set December 31 as the
deadline for making them functional and warned that it would
consider asking return of the central grant given for the
purpose if the directive is not complied with.
This order was passed by a bench comprising Chief Justice
V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice A R Lakshmanan while
looking into the progress made by states in the establishment
of a total of 1734 FTCs across the country for which the
central government was providing cent per cent grant.
The court commended Rajasthan and Maharashtra for
implementing the FTC scheme in an "excellent" manner but
expressed concern about Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Goa,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa, Punjab and West Bengal.
While asking the defaulting state governments to fill the
vacancies in the FTCs and notify the required number of such
courts positively by December 31, 2003, it warned that failure
to do the needful by the deadline fixed would make the court
consider the aspect of asking the states to refund the money
received from the Centre for the purpose.
The bench, in view of the request of Rajasthan for more funds to run the FTCs, asked Solicitor General Kirit Raval to file the response of the Centre as to whether the money given for establishment of FTCs were a one time grant or it was open to giving continuous grants for their functioning.
The bench, in view of the request of Rajasthan for more funds to run the FTCs, asked Solicitor General Kirit Raval to file the response of the Centre as to whether the money given for establishment of FTCs were a one time grant or it was open to giving continuous grants for their functioning.
Recently, Law Minister Arun Jaitley had said that 1401 FTCs have been established so far in the country. Bureau Report