PIB TrackerCabinet extends Fast Track Special Courts scheme to 2031
The Cabinet has continued the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Fast Track Special Courts, including exclusive POCSO Courts, for five years to 31 March 2031 with an outlay of Rs 3,788.04 crore, raising provision from 779 courts to 850.
What happened
- The Union Cabinet approved the continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Fast Track Special Courts, including exclusive POCSO Courts, for five years from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031.
- The total outlay is Rs 3,788.04 crore: Rs 2,353.15 crore Central share from the Nirbhaya Fund and Rs 1,434.89 crore State/UT share.
- The scheme provides for 850 courts against 779 functional now (including 399 exclusive POCSO Courts), with the expansion based on case-pendency data across States and UTs.
- Each court is to have one Judicial Officer, a Special Public Prosecutor assigned exclusively to it and six support staff, and States receive central assistance for operating costs under the CSS pattern.
- The Department of Justice will monitor through the FTSC Dashboard, progress reports and expenditure statements, and encourages Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centres; 4,02,457 cases have been disposed of since 2019.
For Prelims
- Origin: the scheme was launched on 2 October 2019, after the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, which raised minimum punishment for rape and prescribed two-month limits for investigation and for trial.
- POCSO Act, 2012: protects persons under 18 from sexual offences; Section 28 lets a State designate Special Courts, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court, to try them.
- Nirbhaya Fund: created in the 2013 Budget after the December 2012 Delhi gang rape; the Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry, and it finances projects for women's safety.
- CSS versus Central Sector: a Centrally Sponsored Scheme is run by States with cost shared in a fixed ratio; a Central Sector scheme is wholly funded by the Centre, as with VISTAR approved the same day.
- Funding pattern: an earlier PIB reply (2289464) records Centre-State sharing at 60:40 and 90:10, with the Centre reimbursing salaries and a flexi-grant against expenditure statements.
- Vulnerable witnesses: the Supreme Court's 2004 judgment in Sakshi v Union of India approved screens and in-camera safeguards for child witnesses, the idea behind deposition centres.
- Speedy trial: the Supreme Court read speedy trial into Article 21 in Hussainara Khatoon v State of Bihar (1979); Article 39(f) directs the State to protect children from exploitation.
- New criminal law: rape is defined in Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force since 1 July 2024, replacing IPC Section 375.
For UPSC: FTSC scheme (CSS) 1 Apr 2026 to 31 Mar 2031: Rs 3,788.04 crore, Nirbhaya Fund central share; 850 courts (779 now); 1 judge, 1 Special Public Prosecutor, 6 staff each.
What it is NOT: The release does not give the number of pending rape and POCSO cases, conviction rates or the average time a case takes in an FTSC. It does not name the States or districts that will get the 71 added courts, or explain why 850 differs from the 790 courts mentioned in an earlier PIB reply. The State-wise funding ratio is not stated, nor is any penalty for States that leave posts vacant. The disposal figure is a cumulative total with no year-wise breakdown.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS2.6 · GS2.12 · Linkage L1
Anchor
Trials for sexual offences against women and children queue behind other work in ordinary courts. Dedicated courts, judges and prosecutors are the State's answer, and the Cabinet has renewed it for five years.
Substantiation (data)
The Cabinet approved Rs 3,788.04 crore for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031 and 850 courts against 779 now, each with a judge, a prosecutor and six staff; 4,02,457 cases have been disposed of since 2019.
Position
Dedicated staff remove the usual bottleneck of one judge and one prosecutor juggling case types. Placing new courts by pendency data puts capacity where the backlog is.
Counterpoint
Courts are one link. Police investigation, forensic reports and witness support feed every trial, and the release has no pendency or conviction figures. A July 2026 PIB reply (2289464) showed 1,43,936 registrations against 66,500 disposals in 2025.
Way forward
Publish court-wise pendency and disposal on the FTSC Dashboard, fill judicial and prosecutor posts on time, set up deposition centres in every district and link releases to disposal rates.
Conclusion
Funding is settled to 2031. The measure is how long a rape or POCSO case takes from filing to verdict.
Deploys into: Judicial reform and speedy trial · Protection of women and children · Centre-State fiscal federalism (CSS pattern) · Nirbhaya Fund and criminal-law reform
Cabinet · 2026-11-04 · PRID 2332483 · PIB source ↗