PANCHKULA: Chief Justice India Justice K.G. Balakrishnan has advocated setting up of family courts in each district of Punjab and Haryana in six months’ time, besides starting village-level courts across the country.
Justice Balakrishnan, who inaugurated a two-day International Conference of Jurists on Judicial Reforms here on Saturday appealed to the Bar members to ensure speedy and inexpensive justice.
Stating that 4,000 gram nyayalayas (village courts) had been planned to be set up in the rural parts of the country, Justice Balakrishnan expressed concern over the vacancies of judges in various courts saying that there were 16,000 courts while 2,000 vacancies existed as their appointments were being delayed because the process involved selection, training and then appointment.
Suggesting the state governments to set up family courts in six months, he said a senior judge should head the proposed courts as the family disputes needed to be settled amicably. The Chief Justice said these courts were required in both Punjab and Haryana because of the increase in number of family disputes and cases involving NRIs.
Justice Balakrishnan said Rs 5,000 crore had been allocated by the Planning Commission for judiciary. These funds would help in improving the facilities in court complexes.
Expressing concern over the judges’ vacancies, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the country needed five times more than the present strength of judges as the pendency was rapidly increasing.
He suggested furthering strengthening Lok Adalats as these helped in settling cases at pre-litigative stage.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in his address, suggested that the issue of reducing the backlog could be redressed by reducing the load on courts and by improving their efficiency.
‘The state government had also set up family courts at Gurgaon, Faridabad, Risar and Bhiwani, he said, adding that country’s first mobile court was established in Mewat and the government was now considering setting up of four evening courts on trial basis. Hooda said gram nyayalayas in RanIa, Sirsa, and Shahbad, Kurukshetra, had also been approved by his government.
Supreme Court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran called upon the members of the Bar to follow three mantras of speedy justice, inexpensive justice and effective justice to check delay in delivery of justice.
Supreme Court of Nepal’s justice Gauri Dhakal said the system of judiciary in Nepal was being reformed as per the needs of the time and a five year plan had been implemented to bring in structural reforms.
A code of conduct for judges had also been prepared.
Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Mukul Mudgal said with a view to check delay in delivery of justice and clear pendency of cases, there were suggestions to increase number• of courts and improve infrastructure.
Stating that reforms should be implemented in their true spirit, he said the judges should not be liberal in granting adjournments.
Punjab Justice Minister Upinderjit Kaur expressed concern over growing pendency of cases and said the system needed overhauling.
International Council of Jurists president and chairman, All India Bar Associations, Dr Adish C. Aggarwala who welcomed the dignitaries, urged the delegates to rededicate themselves to serve society, especially the poor. Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Council chairman Partap Singh said people were losing faith in the system of justice delivery due to delays in settling cases.
SOURCE-HT
Our states desperately needs local justice system on fast track, especially the cases involving NRI’s as they have been taken as a soft target. Appreciate the move by government.