Manmohan Singh, who became the first sitting Prime Minister to visit the Bombay high court building; expressed pleasure at the high disposal rate of cases at the court
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh graced the concluding function of the sesquicentennial anniversary celebrations of the Bombay High Court at the NCPA on Saturday and expressed pleasure over the good disposal rate of cases.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony of the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Bombay High Court at National Centre for Performing Arts on Saturday
Singh said, “Our government stands committed to working with the judiciary to bring about improvement in the justice delivery system. We have taken a number of initiatives for this purpose. In 2011, we launched the national Mission for Justice Delivery with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears and enhancing accountability.
A comprehensive proposal has been formulated for establishment of an All India Judicial Service. An Inter Ministerial Group is examining what amendments in the Negotiable Instrument Act are needed, along with other measures, to check increasing litigation arising out of cases of bouncing cheques.
A group under the Chairman of Law Commission is looking at the improvements that are required in court procedure and processes for a better criminal justice system. It is heartening to know that the backlog of cases in various courts of the country has gone down by 6 lakh from July to December 2011. The Bombay High Court and its subordinate courts have contributed handsomely to this achievement, reducing their pendency by 5 lakh cases annually since the year 2010.”
Inaugurating the function, Advocate General of Maharashtra Darius Khambata remarked, “There is a critical need to make quick justice available to the common man, and penalise delays and long arguments and annihilate delays before they annihilate us.”
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan emphasised that soon, the backlog of cases will be reduced to three years, a notion supported by Chief Justice Shah, who claimed that since 2010, when the pendency was 41.35 lakh, the current pendency as of August 2012 was 30 lakh. Chavan attributed this success rate to Maha Lok Adalats and an extensive legal aid network in Maharashtra.
“Even after the Centre stopped funding the creation of new fast track courts, the State Government has continued to do so, spending 298 crore in constructing 128 new courts in the 2012-2013 financial year,” he said. He also assured the citizens that amendments were going to be introduced to the Negotiable Instruments Act to reduce the backlog of check bouncing cases. u00a0