CBI to get six new special courts in Maharashtra

MUMBAI - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon get six dedicated special courts across Maharashtra to hear cases investigated by the agency, the government announced Wednesday.

While three courts will come up in Mumbai, one each will be set up in Pune, Nagpur and Amravati, the state cabinet decided at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Ashokrao Chavan.

Presently, Maharashtra has only one CBI special court situated in Mumbai. It has been overburdened with a backlog of cases.

The government also cleared the creation of new posts and sanctioned the cost of establishing these special courts.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given the green signal to CBIs demand for setting up 71 special courts across the country to reduce the number of pending cases.

In July, CBI director Ashwini Kumar said in Mumbai that the special courts would hold day-to-day trials of all cases and avoid unnecessary adjournments.

Besides the six new special courts, the CBI will soon gets its exclusive western regional office at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, the foundation for which was laid here last week.