(a) whether the Government proposes to form a fast track court to provide justice to the undertrial prisoners in various jails of the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has received any suggestions/proposals in this regard;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the details of the action being taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a to d): There is no such proposal before the Government. Setting up of Fast Track Courts (FTCs) and their functioning fall within the domain of the respective State Governments in consultation with the High Courts. However, the 14th Finance Commission had endorsed the proposal of Union of India for setting up of 1800 FTCs during 2015-2020 for dealing with specific cases of heinous nature, civil cases related to women, children, senior citizens, other vulnerable sections of society and property related cases pending for more than 5 years. The Commission had urged State Governments to utilize enhanced fiscal space available through tax devolution (32% to 42%) for this purpose. As per information made available by High Courts, there are 894 afore-mentioned functional FTCs in the country.