The directive, issued by the state's Law and Judiciary department on June 17, comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court judgement (Raj Deo Sharma versus State of Bihar), which says: ``In cases where the trial is for an offence punishable with imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years, whether the accused is in jail or not, the Court shall close the prosecution evidence on completion of a period of two years from the date of recording the plea of the accused on the charges framed...''. This means that cases against any accused under the PCA will be closed if the prosecution fails to begin the trial within a period of two years from the date of filing of the chargesheet. Over 30,000 casesare pending in different courts all over the state. According to the circular, some courts in the state have adjudicated some criminal cases filed under the PCA by applying the Supreme Court's observations. This has resulted in the acquittal of hundreds of accused, according to a public prosecutor. The PPs have also been asked to ``take necessary steps so that there has been no delay on the part of the prosecution that would result into acquittal of the accused on the point of delay.''

Several petitions filed by the state government appealing against acquittals under this Act are pending in the Bombay High Court. As per procedure, whenever an accused is acquitted, the State appeals within 90 days of the acquittal. These appeals are currently pending with the HC.

Last year, while disposing of a criminal writ petition, a division bench of Justice A V Savant and Justice Dr Pratibha Upasani, had observed that the guidelines laid down by the SC were not applicable to cases of economic offences, includingthose under the PCA.

Public Prosecutor Vishwas Patil put the onus of avoiding the delay in prosecution on the government. ``It is the government's responsibility to provide more courts. Often, delays occur because there are simply no courts.

CBI related cases, for example, are tried in just one court, anti-corruptionbureau cases in another. Some delay therefore is bound to happen,'' Patil told Express Newsline.