Pendency of cases in Courts continues to be a Key challenge: PM

Pendency of cases in Courts continues to be a Key challenge: PM Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that pendency of cases in Courts continues to be a Key challenge and Centre might step in to establish family courts in the country. Addressing a joint conference of Chief Ministers of States and Chief Justices of High Courts meet in New Delhi, Singh said the Centre might step in to establish family courts in the country as many states have failed to discharge their legal obligation in this regard. "Many state governments have so far failed to discharge their legal obligation in this regard. As a result many litigants, hailing mostly from socially and economically weaker sections of the society, have to travel long distance to seek redressal of the grievances," Singh said. The Prime Minister said that since Family Courts Act is a social welfare measure, the Centre has power under Article 247 to establish additional courts for better administration of laws made by Parliament. Singh made the remarks in response to a letter written to him by the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan about the need for Central intervention due to the apathy shown by most of the state governments. The Family Courts Act 1984 mandates state governments to establish family courts in urban areas with a population of over one million. Increase number of judicial officers, upgrade infrastructure Dr. Singh emphasised the need for "liquidating" the largescale pendency of cases and asked the states to increase the number of judicial officers and upgrade the existing infrastructure. "The Central government is prepared to work with state Governments and the courts to modernise the relevant infrastructure to computerise processes and systems and to provide alternative justice delivery systems that can help reduce the burden on the High Courts and the Supreme Court," Dr. Singh said. Dr. Singh said there was clearly a merit "to increase the number of judicial officers and judges in the High Courts and Supreme Court." Recently 152 new posts of High Court judges had been created and an increase in number of judges in the apex court is also being undertaken, he said. He emphasised the need for constant interaction between the Government and the judiciary for discharging their respective Constitutional goals. "But how we translate theory into practice is influenced both by our own conduct and by the extant social and political environment. Hence, it is necessary for us to talk to each other, from time to time, to ensure that we are indeed fulfilling the role assigned to us by the Constitution and, at the same time, meet the hopes and aspirations of our people," the Prime Minister said. Stressing the need to upgrade the existing infrastructure, Dr. Singh observed, "many court buildings and complexes have not seen any expansion since the time they were originally built. "This has contributed to a severe congestion in courts and our court premises in many places have a sorry look about them. The Centre is willing to help states in constructing new court buildings and residential accommodation for judges," he said. Accepting that there have been some delays in utilisation of funds provided by the Centre to the states, Dr. Singh said "I urge Chief Ministers to personally address this problem and ensure speedy implementation of infrastructure modernisation." He also highlighted the initiative taken by the UPA government in implementing Gram Nyayalaya Bill 2007 which would envisage setting up of more courts at panchayat level. Referring to the Gram Nyayalayas aimed at taking the justice delivery system to the doorstep of the people, he assured that the Centre would provide required funds for its success. Dr. Singh said developing the human resource potential and use of technology was another way of dealing with the problem of pendency by producing world class legal professionals. Dr. Singh also laid emphasis on adopting alternative disputes resolution mechanism like mediation and conciliation to bring down the pendency of cases in courts. "The Chief Justice of India has taken an important initiative in constituting a mediation and conciliation project committee. I urge High Courts and Bar Councils to come forward and support this initiative of the Chief Justices with enthusiasm," he added.

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