Special courts in Bihar to deal with corruption cases

PATNA: Bihar government is considering setting up dedicated special courts for expeditious disposal of corruption cases to bring tainted public servants to book.


Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav told the legislative assembly that the decision on setting up the special courts would be taken soon.

Replying to a starred question by the JD(U) MLA Jai Kumar Singh, Yadav said the need for constitution of the special courts for handling corruption cases was felt in view of the fact that judges of district courts have to carry out other judicial works and hear various other cases.

He said so far 10 special courts have been set up in Patna, Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur for trial of corruption cases only and steps were being taken to dispose such cases expeditiously and bring to justice 'tainted' public servants.

He informed the house that a total 561 government employees had been arrested on corruption charges between 1990 and 2012 and 122 of them have been convicted in courts.

The vigilance department had lodged 1121 cases of corruption between 1990 and 2010 and an additional 46 related cases were transferred to it from districts for investigation in the same period. So far 55 cases have been disposed by the courts and 94 persons handed out sentences, he said.

In addition, the vigilance department has lodged six cases of corruption between 2007 and 2010 and were now in different stages of investigation, Yadav said.