Setting up of Fast Track Courts (FTCs) and its functioning lies within the domain of State Governments in consultation with the respective High Courts.
Key points
- The 14th Finance Commission (FC) had recommended the setting up of 1800 Fast Track Courts (FTCs) during 2015-20 for speedy trial of specific cases of heinous nature, civil cases related to women, children, senior citizen, disabled persons, persons infected with terminal ailments etc. and property related cases pending for more than 5 years.
- The FC had further urged State Governments to utilize enhanced fiscal space available through tax devolution (32% to 42%) for this purpose.
- The Union Government has also urged the State Governments to allocate funds for the setting up of FTCs, from the financial year 2015-16 onwards.
- In addition to FTCs, in pursuance to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Government of India finalized a scheme in August, 2019 for setting up Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including exclusive POCSO Courts for expeditious trial and disposal of cases pertaining to rape and Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 .
- Presently, there is no provision to set up Fast Track Courts for undertrials.
- The Government of India has added Section 436-A to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which provides for the release of an undertrial prisoner on bail after serving half of the maximum period of imprisonment prescribed for an offense under any law.
- The concept of “Plea Bargaining” was also introduced by inserting “Chapter XXIA” in CrPC, which facilitates pre-trial negotiations between the defendant and the prosecution.
