 biu no 11 of 1979 the special courts bill, 1919 a billto provide for the speedy t1ri4l of g certain class of offences whereas commissions of inquiry appointed under the commissions of inquiry act, 1952 have rendered reports disclosing the existeace of prima facie evidence of offences committed by persons who have held high public or political offices in the country and others connected with the cozmnjasidn s of such offences during the operation of the proelamation of emergedq, dated the 25th june, 1975, issued under clause (1) of article 352 of the constitution; and whbbbas investigations conducted by the government through its agencies have also disclosed similar offences committed duridg the period 10 aforesaid; and whebeas the offences referred to in the recitals aioresaid were committed during the operation of the said proclamatiod oj emergency, during which a grave emergency was clamped on the whole country, civil liberties were withdrawn to a great extent, important fundamental rights is of the people were suspended, strict censorship on the press was placed and judicial powers were crippled to a large extent; and whereas it is the constitutional, legal and moral obligation of the state to prosecute persons involved in the said odmces; and whereas the ordinary criminal courts due to congestion of work 20 and other reasons cannot reasonably be expected to bring those prosecutions to a speedy terminatiod; am whereas it is imperative for the functioning of parliamental1 democracy and the institutions created by or under the constitution of india that the commission of offences referred to in the recitals aforesaid should be judicially determined with the utmost dispatch; and whereas it is necessary for the said purpose to establish additional s courts presided over by sittijjg judges of high courts; and whereas it is expedient to make some procedural changes whereby avoidable delay in the final determination of the innocence or guilt of the persons to be tried is eliminated without interfering with the right to a fair trial; 10 be it enacted by parliament in the thirtieth year of the republic of india as follows:-short 1 (1) this act may be called the special courts act, 1979 title and extent (2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmir is z in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,-definitions (a) "code" means the code of criminal procedure, 1973; 2 of 1974 (b) "declaration", in relation to an offence, means a declaration made under section 5 in respect of such offence; (c) "special court" means a special court established under 20 section 3;  (d) words and expressions used but not defined in this act but defined in the code shall have the same meanings as in the code 3 (1) the central government shan, by doillieation in the official gazette, establish an adequate number of courts to be ea1leci special 2s courts establishmentol special courts (2) a special court shall consist of a sitting judge of a high court, nominated by the central government with the concurrence of the chief justice of india 4 a special court shall take cognizance of or try such cases as are 30 instituted before it or transferred to it u hereinafter provided 5 (1) if the central government is of opinion that there is prima facie evidence of the commission of an offence alleged to have been committed during the period mentioned in the preamble hereto by a person who held high public or political office in india and that in accord- 35 once with the guidelines contained in the preamble 'hereto the said offence ought to be dealt with under this act, the central government shall make a declaration to that effect in every case in which it is of the aforesaid opinion cognizanceof cases by special courta declaration by central governmentof cases to be dealt with under this act (2) such declaration ~ not be called in question in any court ejfect of declaration 6 on such declaration being made in respect of any offence, notwithstanding anything in the code, any prosecution in respect of such oft'ence shall be instituted only in a special court designated by the central governmentand any prosecution in respect of such offence pending in any court shall stand transferred to a special court designated by the central government 7 if at the date of the declaration in respect of any offence an appeal or revision against any judgment or order in a prosecution in respect of such offence, whether pending or disposed of is itself pending in any court of appeal or revision, the same shall stand transferred for s disposal to the supreme court pending appeal or revision to be transferred to supreme court 8 a special court shall have jurisdiction to try any person concerned in the offence in respect of which a declaration has been made either , as principal, conspirator or abettor and all other offences and accused persons as can be j'ointly tried therewith at one trial in accordance with 10 the code jurisdiction of special courts as to j'oint trials 9 (1) a special court shall in the trial of such cases follow the procedure prescribed by the code, for the trial of warrant cases before a magistrate ?racedureand powers of special courts (2) a special court may, with a view to obtaining evidence of any i s person suspected to have been directly or indirectly concerned in, or privy to an offence, tender a pardon to such person on condition of his making full and true disclosure of the whole circumstances within his knowledge relating to the offence and to every other person concerned whether as principal, conspirator or abettor in the commission thereof and 20 any pardon so tendered shall for the purposes of section 308 of the code be deemed to have been tendered under section 307 thereof (3) save as expressly provided in this act, the provisions of the code shall, in so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act apply to the proceedings before a special court and for the purposes 2s of the said provisions of the code a special court shall be deemed to be a court of session and shall have all the powers of a court of session and the person conducting a prosecution before a special court shall be deemed to be a public prosecutor (4) a special court may pass upon any person convicted by it any 30 sentence authorised by law for the punishment of the offence of which such person is convicted power of supreme court to transfer cases 10 (1) whenever it is made to appear to the supreme court that an order under this section is expedient for the ends of justice, it may direct that any particular case be transferred from one special court to another 35 special court (2) the supreme court may act under this section only on the application of the attorney-general of india or of a party interested, and every such application shall be made by motion, which shall, except when the applicant is the attorney-general of india or the advocate-general 40 of a state, be supported by affidavit or affirmation (3) where any application for the exerctse of the powers conferred hy this section is dismissed, the supreme court may, if it is of opinion fhat the application was frivolous or vexatious, order the applicant to pay by way of compensation to any person who has opposed the application 4s such sum not exceeding one thousand rupees as it may consider appropriate in the circumstances of the case appeal 11 (1) notwithstanding anything ill the code, an appeal shall lie as of right from any judgment or order of a special court to the supreme court both on facts and on law (2) except as aforesaid, no appeal or reviljion shall lie to any court from any judgment or order crf a special court 5 power to make rw 12 the supreme court may, by notification in the omeial guette, make such roles, if any, as it may deem necessary for the purposes of this act reports of various commissions of inquiry appointed \utder the comtnfssfons of mquiry act, 1952, have disclosed the e-xifltlenee of prima facie evidence of offences committed by persons who have held high public or political office in the country and otheri conneeted with 'the 'cottlrrri!sion of such offences during the proclamation of emergency issued under artk:le 352 of the constitution on 25th june, 1975 investigations conducted by the govemment through its agencies have also disclosed sfmilaroffences committed by holders of high public or political offices and others during the aforesaid period 2 it is the constitutional, legal and moralobugation of the state to prosecute persons involved in these offences for ensuring the healthy functioning of the institutions of parliamentary demooraey, it is necessary to arrange for their judicial determination with the utmost dispatch the ordinary criminal courts, because of congestion and other reasons, cannot reasonably be expected to bring these prosecutions to a speedy termination it is, therefore, considered necessary to create additional courts, to be called special courts, to deal exclusively with such offences it is also expedient to make some procedural changes whereby avoidable delay in the final determination of the innocence or guilt of the persons to be tried is eliminated without interfering with the right to a fair trial -, , 3 with a view to achieving the above objects, a bill called "the emergency courts bill 1978" (bill no 115 of 1978) had been introduced by shri ram jethmalani in lok sabha in august, 1978 as there were some doubts whether all the provisions in shri jethmalani's bill (a notice of which had been received by government earlier) would be constitutional, a reference was made to the supreme court under article 143 of the constitution seeking its advisory opinion on the special courts bill the provisions of which were substantially the same as those of shrl jethmalani's bill the opinion of the supreme court has been received the supreme court has generally endorsed the constitutiona-!ity of making provision for special courts 4 except for modifications aimed at removing the infirmities pointed out by the supreme court and for certain other modifications relating to details such as the powers of the special courts, the present bill is on the lines of the bili considered by the supreme court new delhi; the 6th february, 1979 h m patel clause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment, by notification, of an adequate number of courts to be called special courts the setting up of these courts will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india, but it has not been possible to make any precise estimate of such expenditure at this stage, as the expenditure will depend upon the number of special courts required and created the likely expenditure per court functioning over a period of one year is expected to be about rb 200 lakhs of which an expenditure of rs 15 lakhs is likely to be on recurring items and of rs 05 lakh on non-recurring items to begin with it is expected that two such courts will be established which, functioning over a year, will involve an expenditure of about rs 400 lakhs more courts will be established as and when required the necessary expenditure will be provided in the budget estimates clause 12 of the bill seeks to confer power on the supreme court to make, by notification in the official gazette, such rules, if any, as it may deem necessary for the purposes of legislation the rules, if any, which may be made under this provision will relate to matters of detail which it is not practicable to provide for in the legislation itself since the power is being conferred on the supreme court, no provision has been made for the laying of the rules reference is invited in this connection to section 643 of the companies act, 1956 which confers power on the supreme court to make rules with respect to certain matters 2 in the circumstances explained above, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character  a billto provide tor the speedy trial of a certain class of offences (shri h m patel, minister of home affairs) 