National

Mumbai, Malegaon blast trials stayed

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, while deciding to examine the constitutional validity of a provision of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA), has stayed until further order the trial of the cases of the July 11, 2006 serial blasts aboard Mumbai suburban trains, the 2006 Malegaon blasts and the seizure of arms in Aurangabad in 2005.

A Bench comprising Justices B. N. Agrawal and G. S. Singhvi on Friday agreed to examine the validity of Section 2(1) (e) of MCOCA, which refers to “insurgency.” It issued notice to the Maharashtra government on three special leave petitions from the accused challenging a Bombay High court judgment dismissing their petitions.

Appearing for the accused, senior counsel Shanthi Bhushan, Rajeev Dhavan and Sushil Kumar Jain said Maharashtra did not have the legislative competence to enact a law with such a provision, which deals with “promoting insurgency.”

Insurgency laws could be enacted only by Parliament, counsel said and described the MCOCA as a colourable legislation. The enactment was a serious inroad into the legislative powers of the Union, they argued.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu