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Fast-Track Courts: Paper-Leak Cases and Legal Framework

27 July 20261 min read
NATIONAL AFFAIRSFast-Track Courts:Paper-Leak Casesand LegalFramework27 July 2026safalsetu.com

Why in the news

After the PM’s announcement, a 2026 amendment to the public examinations law (Prevention of Unfair Means) puts special fast-track courts for paper-leak offences on a statutory footing.

Key facts

  • Nature: temporary benches for quick trials, with daily hearings and no routine adjournments.
  • Weakness: most are designated existing courts, not newly created ones.
  • Article 14: special treatment of offences needs a reasonable, rational classification.
  • Article 21: speedy trial flows from Hussainara Khatoon (1979).
  • Article 247: Parliament may set up additional courts for its laws.
  • Brij Mohan Lal (2012): States must make FTCs permanent or phase them out.
StageDetails
11th Finance Commission1,734 FTCs for long-pending cases
14th Finance Commission1,800 FTCs for heinous crimes and old civil disputes
October 2019FTSCs for rape and POCSO cases, part-funded by the Nirbhaya Fund
BNSS, 2023Sexual offence trials within two months of chargesheet

Exam angle

  • Speedy trial: Article 21; additional courts: Article 247.
  • FTSC funding: Nirbhaya Fund.

Test yourself

1. Which case read the right to a speedy trial into Article 21 of the Constitution?

The 1979 Hussainara Khatoon case read speedy trial into the right to life.

2. Which Article empowers Parliament to establish additional courts for better administration of its laws?

Article 247 empowers Parliament to set up additional courts.

3. Fast Track Special Courts launched in October 2019 were dedicated to which cases?

FTSCs, part-funded by the Nirbhaya Fund, handle rape and POCSO cases.

This topic is part of Daily Current Affairs 26 & 27 July 2026 (23 topics).

All topics of the dayDay quizJuly 2026

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