Over Rs 200 Crore Allotted, Yet Not A Single Fast Track Court Is Functional In Karnataka

The state of Karnataka was allotted Rs 218.72 crore as part of the centre’s grand plan to set up 1,800 fast track courts (FTC) over a period of five years (2015-2020) . But as reported by The Times of India, nothing has come out of it so far, as the state doesn’t have a single functional FTC.

The courts which were to be set up to hear cases pertaining to crimes related to senior citizens, women and children, have been turned into regular and permanent courts. "FTCs are not required any more. The courts which were proposed to be temporary in nature have been converted into permanent and regular courts," said law minister T B Jayachandra, as quoted.

The 14th Finance Commission endorsed the centre’s Rs 4,144 crore proposal in order "to strengthen the judicial system in states which includes establishing 1,800 FTCs for a period of five years for all cases of heinous crimes". But the state government doesn’t seem to have got the communications clear as it has completely ignored the fact that the FTCs with specific allocations were to be set up for a specific purpose. "The bigger problem for us is the huge pendency of cases which needed to be addressed, and that's why we decided to convert all FTCs into regular courts.We are not aware of any further communication in this regard,” Jayachandra is quoted as saying.