New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) Expressing its annoyance over the delay in the completion of trials in criminal cases due to non-framing of charges for years even after chargesheets are filed, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it needs to lay down pan-India guidelines to address the problem which leads to huge pendency of cases in the judiciary.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria, which sought the assistance of the Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said even after the chargesheets are filed, the trial courts are not framing the charges for three to four years.

"We have noticed, time and again, the charges are not being framed even months and years after the filing of the chargesheet. This is one of the primary reasons for the trial getting delayed.

"Unless and until the charges are framed in a criminal case, the trial cannot commence. As such, this situation seems to be prevalent in most of the courts and we are of the considered opinion that certain directions need to be issued pan-India in this regard," the top court said.

It appointed senior advocate Siddharth Luthra as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter.

"We also permit the petitioner's counsel to furnish a copy of the petitioner and the present order to the Attorney General as we propose to issue directions if required for all courts across the country," the bench said as it listed the matter after two weeks.

The bench, which was hearing a bail plea of an accused in a criminal case from Bihar, was informed by his counsel that charges have not been framed for the past two years despite the filing of a chargesheet.

The top court noted that under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), in cases exclusively triable by a court of sessions, a charge must be framed within 60 days of the first hearing.

Justice Kumar said that the delay in completion of trials in criminal cases is due to non-framing of charges and in civil matters it is due to non-framing of issues by the trial court.

"Why take years and years to frame charges? In civil cases, non-framing of the issues and in criminal cases, non-framing of charges.

"We want to know what the difficulties are and we will issue directions for all courts across the country. We propose to do it," the bench said at the outset.

The top court also sought the assistance of former high court judge and senior advocate S Nagamuthu.

The counsel appearing for the Bihar government said that there are substantial delays between the filing of a chargesheet and the framing of charges.

Similarly, another counsel pointed out that the same situation exists even in Maharashtra. Recently, another bench of the apex court has also expressed concern over 600 criminal cases where charges have not been framed and remarked that "it was a shocking state of arrears".

The top court had sought details of such cases from district courts in Maharashtra. PTI MNL MNL KSS KSS

Delay in framing criminal charges prompts call for pan-India guidelines to curb trial backlogs and ensure timely trials. The Supreme Court identified non-framing of charges after filing of chargesheets as a major cause of trial delay and proposed issuing pan-India guidelines to ensure timely commencement of trials; it sought assistance from senior law officers, appointed an amicus curiae and a former judge, and noted existing statutory expectations that charges in sessions trials be framed within a short period from first hearing.