Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has stressed the need to significantly enhance the number of judges to administer justice and reduce backlog of cases.
Addressing the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts in New Delhi today, Dr Singh said over three crore cases are pending in courts across the country and 26 per cent of them are over five-year old.
Terming the judge to population ratio of 15.5 judges per million of population as grossly inadequate, Dr Singh assured full Central assistance to the States and urged the Chief Ministers to support the initiative to address the twin problems of pendency and delay in disposal of cases.
He informed the august gathering that the government will ask 14th Finance Commission for allocation of more funds to the States, especially for the judicial sector.
The Centre will also request the Commission to earmark funds for establishing fast track courts for speedy trials of heinous crimes and offences against the elderly, women and children.
The Prime exhorted the Chief Ministers for collective efforts to ensure that the laws governing daily lives of citizens are certain, stable and reasonable.
He emphasised that the laws must deliver on respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights besides ensuring inclusion of disadvantaged sections in the justice delivery process.
Dr. Singh also called for intensified efforts to deal with offences against women. He said fundamental principles of law and natural justice must not be compromised to satiate the rhetoric of the political discourse.
The Prime Minister said the government's chosen path of development, based on fast, inclusive and sustainable growth will reduce disparities and ensure a life of dignity for all citizens.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice of India Justice Altamas Kabir underlined the need for improving the Juvenile Justice system. He said 42 per cent of India's population comprises the youth and if they are not taken care of properly, it may lead to a very chaotic situation in the next 15 years. Justice Kabir said the youth must be weaned away from the menace of drug addiction. He sought the Centre and States' help in setting up mediation centers for institutionalising additional dispute redressal system.
On improving physical infrastructure of courts, he said attention must also be paid to doubling or increasing the number of judicial officers in subordinate courts.
Law and Justice Minister Dr Ashwani Kumar said the government has supported mediation, conciliation, arbitration and lok adalats as alternate dispute redressal mechanism through various schemes to reduce backlog of pending cases. He informed that about 11 lakh lok adalats have helped in settling over 3.76 crore cases which testifies their popularity.
The minister, however, expressed concern over slow pace in setting up of gram nyayalayas which were envisaged to bring justice to the door steps of people. He said against the goal of five thousand gram nyayalayas, only 172 have been notified so far with 152 operational in the country.
