K. K. Pant**,,
Though the Ministry of Law & Justice and the Judiciary, both have been taking a number of steps to reduce the pendency of cases in the courts, it is the special drives which have really speeded up this process. Like last year this year, too, the Ministry of Law & Justicehas requested the Chief Justices of all the High Courts to undertake another drive from 1st July 2012 to 31st December, 2012. For this the Minister of Law & Justice, Shri Salman Khurshid recently sent letters to the Chief Justices of all the High Courts. In his letter Shri Khurshid has said that during this campaign we can target to make our judicial system ‘Five Plus’ free by the end of this year as far as possible. Chief Justices have been urged that focus on disposal of cases of the marginalised sections of society and under-trials should continue as before. Substantial funds are already available at the disposal of the State Governments out of the grants sanctioned under Thirteenth Finance Commission. These can be utilised for creation of special courts and ADR centres for achieving the reduction in pendency. Efforts may also be focused during this period on filling of existing vacancies so that augmented availability of manpower at the courts would ensure higher disposal. Shri Salman Khurshid formally launched this year’s drive from Karnataka High Court, Bengaluru, on the 30th of June 2012. Next day he launched the drive from Bombay High Court, Mumbai. And, this new zeal to stamp out pendency has been welcomed by one and all.
The results of last year’s drive have been impressive. As per the information received from various High Courts, there has been a net reduction of 6 lakh cases in subordinate courts at the end of 2011, reversing the earlier trend of increase in pendency by about 5 lakh cases from the end of the year 2009 to the end of the year 2010. More importantly, there is a significant reduction of over 1.36 lakh pending cases relating to senior citizens, minors, disabled and marginalised sections of the society who are more vulnerable in case of a prolonged litigation.
Of the 3 crore cases pending in various courts across the country, almost three-fourths i.e., 74% are less than 5 years old. The Chief Justice of India had also expressed the need of making the judicial system 5+ free by addressing 26% of the old cases which are of more than 5 years vintage. Thus the urgency of dealing with pendency is being fully felt by the Government and the Judiciary alike. The Government has been constantly endeavouring and working towards improvement in judicial system in the country jointly with the judiciary. In this direction the Government has been undertaking computerization of courts since 2007 and has been investing on improving infrastructure in the judiciary since 1993-94. Of late, establishment of National Court Management System has been notified by the Chief Justice of India. This would be addressing issues of case management, court management, setting standards for measuring performance of the courts and a national system of judicial statistics in the country.
The Government has set up a National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms which will be addressing the issues of delays and arrears in the judicial system as well enforcing better accountability at all levels through a variety of methods which will include setting and monitoring of performance standard, enhancement of capacity through training at various levels etc.
Besides, the Government of India has been assisting the States in many ways: –
- The 13th Finance Commission has recommended a grant of Rs. 5,000 crore for the states over a period of 5 years between 2010 and 2015. The amount is being provided as a grant to the States for various initiatives such as – Increasing the number of court working hours using the existing infrastructure by holding morning/evening/shift courts; Enhancing support to Lok Adalats to reduce the pressure on regular courts; Providing additional funds to State Legal Services Authorities to enable them to enhance legal aid to the marginalized and empower them to access justice; Promoting the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to resolve part of the disputes outside the court system; Enhancing capacity of judicial officers and public and public prosecutors through training programmes; and Creation of the post of Court Managers in every judicial district and High Courts buildings. An amount of Rs. 1,353.62 crore has already been released to the States on this account.
- Under the Central Sector Scheme, 100% funds are being provided by Central Government for computerization of the District and Subordinate Courts (e-Courts project) in the country and for up-gradation of the ICT infrastructure of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Out of 14,229 courts, 9697 courts have been computerized in the country as on 31 March, 2012. The balance courts would be computerized by 31 March, 2014.
- The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has been enacted for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas at the grass roots level for providing access to justice to citizens at their doorstep. The Central Government is providing assistance to States towards non-recurring expenses for setting up of Gram Nyayalayas subject to a ceiling of Rs. 18.00 lakh per Gram Nyayalaya. The Central Government also provides assistance towards recurring expenses for running these Gram Nyayalayas subject to a ceiling of Rs. 3.20 lakh per Gram Nyayalaya per year for the first three years. As informed by the State Governments, 153 Gram Nyayalayas have been notified already. Out of these 151 Gram Nyayalayas have started functioning.
- A Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary is being implemented since 1993-94 under which central assistance for construction of court buildings and residential quarters for judicial officers is released to augment the resources of the State Governments. The expenditure on the scheme is shared by the Centre and the State Governments on 75:25 basis, except for States in North East Region, which is on 90:10 basis. An expenditure of Rs. 1,841 crore has been incurred on this scheme up to 31 March, 2012 since inception.
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*Deputy Director (Media & Communication)
