Funds for Judicial Reforms

The Government has provided assistance to the State Governments for judicial reforms and for reducing the large number of pending cases in the courts by releasing funds awarded by the Thirteenth Finance Commission for the improvement of justice delivery as well as under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of infrastructure facilities for the subordinate judiciary and scheme for assistance for setting up of the Gram Nyayalayas. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Law & Justice, said that under the Thirteenth Finance Commission a provision of Rs. 5,000 crore has been made for a period of five years (2010-15) for State Governments for the improvement of justice delivery. This grant is aimed at providing support to improve judicial outcomes and is allocated for the following initiatives:

(i)         Increasing the number of court working hours using the existing infrastructure by holding morning/ evening/ shift courts;

(ii)        Enhancing support to Lok Adalats to reduce the pressure on regular courts;

(iii)       Providing additional funds to State Legal Services Authorities to enable them to enhance legal aid to the marginalized and empower them to access justice;

(iv)       Promoting the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to resolve part of the disputes outside the court system;

(v)        Enhancing capacity of judicial officers and public prosecutors through training programmes;

(vi)       Supporting creation or strengthening of a judicial academy in each state to facilitate such training;

(vii)      Creation of the post of Court Managers in every judicial district to assist the judiciary in their administrative functions; and

(viii)     Maintenance of heritage court buildings.