The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Himachal Pradesh Government to withdraw prosecution against MPs and MLAs in more than 60 cases registered over protests and dharnas during Covid-19, saying the continuation of prosecution in these cases would not affect the administration of criminal justice.”None of these cases disclose commission of any grave or heinous crime, nor do they suggest that the accused are hardened criminals. The allegations against the public representatives essentially relate to their participation in dharnas and/or voicing grievances of the general public before different forums,” a Bench led by CJI Surya Kant said.The Bench said continuation of such prosecutions would neither serve the administration of criminal justice nor public interest and that it would consume judicial time at the cost of serious cases.”Continuation of these proceedings would neither serve the cause of administration of the criminal justice system nor benefit public interest. Rather, these proceedings would consume the time of the courts at the cost of other serious or contentious cases which are required to be decided expeditiously,” it said.The order came on the Himachal Pradesh Government’s appeal challenging the state high court’s decision to only partly allow withdrawal of prosecution in some of the cases.The High Court’s approval was needed in view of the top court’s 2021 verdict in the Ashwini Upadhyay case which mandated strict judicial scrutiny to check misuse of executive power for dropping prosecution against lawmakers.The cases included those under Section 269 of the PC for alleged acts likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life; alleged assault or use of criminal force against public servants but without any instance of actual injury caused; cases under Sections 504 and 506 of the IPC over alleged breach of peace and criminal intimidation; cases relating to dharnas or assembly on National Highways during Covid-19 pandemic; those under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act; and effigy burning cases.