Fast Track Courts (FTCs)
- Context: The Prime Minister announced the establishment of Fast Track Courts to expedite the trial of cases related to the leakage of public examination question papers.
About Fast Track Courts:
- Fast Track Courts (FTCs) are special courts established to speedily dispose of important and long-pending cases.
- Objective: To reduce the backlog of cases and ensure the ‘right to a speedy trial’ under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- These are not separate constitutional courts; rather, they are temporary courts functioning as part of the existing subordinate judiciary.
Legal and Constitutional Basis:
- There is no single central legislation governing Fast Track Courts.
- They are established through recommendations of the Finance Commission, government schemes, and High Court notifications.
- Under Article 14 of the Constitution, the allocation of cases to Fast Track Courts must follow a reasonable classification; it must not be arbitrary.
Evolution:
- 2000: Recommended by the 11th Finance Commission to resolve pending cases.
- 2015–20: The 14th Finance Commission recommended setting up 1,800 Fast Track Courts for heinous crimes and old civil cases.
- 2019: A scheme for ‘Fast Track Special Courts’ was launched under the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ to handle cases related to rape and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act).
Implementation:
- Established by state governments in consultation with High Courts.
- The Central Government provides financial and policy support. Scope
- General Fast Track Courts (FTCs): Handle serious criminal and civil cases.
- Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs): Exclusively try cases related to sexual assault and those under the POCSO Act.
Key Features:
- Provisions under BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita):
- Trials must be completed within 2 years.
- Cases related to sexual offenses must be concluded within 2 months.
- Each FTSC aims to dispose of 165 cases annually.
- Currently, approximately 862 FTCs and 774 FTSCs (including 398 exclusive POCSO courts) are operational.
- While regular courts dispose of 3.3 cases per month, FTSCs dispose of an average of 9.5 cases per month; their disposal rate stands at 96%.
- Fast track courts have also been proposed for cases involving organized examination malpractices under the ‘Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024’.
Constitutional Amendment Acts
- Context: The government has informed Parliament that eight constitutional amendments have been enacted over the past twelve years.
Constitutional Amendments (99 to 106):
- 99th Amendment Act, 2014 – Established the ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission’ as a replacement for the ‘Collegium’ system (judges’ appointment body); this was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
- 100th Amendment Act, 2015 – Implemented the Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh.
- 101st Amendment Act, 2016 – Introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- 102nd Amendment Act, 2018 – Granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes.
- 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 – Provided 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and government employment.
- 104th Amendment Act, 2020 (passed in 2019) – Extended the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies until January 25, 2030; it also ended the reservation for Anglo-Indians.
- 105th Amendment Act, 2021 – Restored the authority of states to identify and notify Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
- 106th Amendment Act, 2023 – Provided 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies (‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’).
