The Supreme Court Tuesday ordered that public prosecutors cannot withdraw criminal cases against lawmakers accused under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) without sanction from high courts.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana also said that it was mulling the setting up of a special bench at the apex court to monitor the cases against politicians.

The bench, which also comprised Justices Vineet Saran and Surya Kant, ordered that special courts judges, hearing cases against the MPs and MLAs, will not be transferred until further orders.

It directed the Registrar Generals of all the high courts to provide information, in a particular format, about the cases decided by special courts against the lawmakers.

It has also sought the details of pending cases and their stages before the trial courts.

The Supreme Court also held that political parties must make criminal records of their poll candidates public within 48 hours of their selection. This comes months after a February ruling saying that candidates must upload these details either within 48 hours of their selection or at least two weeks before the first date of filing nomination papers, according to a report by ndtv.com.

The order came after the top court perused the report of senior advocate Vijay Hansaria and lawyer Sneha Kalita who are assisting the bench.

The bench was hearing a PIL of 2016 filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay on fast-tracking of criminal trials against MP and MLAs besides seeking life ban on convicted politicians from contesting polls.