The Hindu : National : Ensure continuation of fast track courts, BJP urges Manmohan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 26, 2005

National

National

Ensure continuation of fast track courts, BJP urges Manmohan

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MARCH 25. The Bharatiya Janata Party today urged the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to ensure the continuation of the fast track courts after March 31.

Expressing surprise over non-allocation of funds by the 12th Finance Commission for the courts, M. Venkaiah Naidu, former BJP president, told presspersons that he had written a letter to Dr. Singh on the issue.

Mr. Naidu pointed out that the 1,690 courts, created by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government in 2001, had settled over six lakh cases of the 12.58 lakhs referred to them. ``If they are not allowed to function, the remaining cases would be transferred to lower courts. This may lead to delay in the dispensation of justice,'' he cautioned.

Mr. Naidu noted that E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, Congress MP and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, had taken up the matter with the Finance Minister, P.Chidambaram.

VAT issue

On the Value Added Tax (VAT), he said there would be no reconsideration of the refusal to introduce the tax in the BJP-ruled States. The BJP's stand was not political.

While the revenue of States with a large and diversified manufacturing base was likely to go up, those of the ``consuming States'' would go down sharply. Rajasthan, falling in this category, would stand to lose Rs. 2,300 crores annually. A comprehensive scheme of compensation to States had to be evolved, he said.

Patents Bill

Mr. Naidu criticised the Left parties for their support for the passage of the Patents Bill in Parliament, saying that they had demonstrated again that for them ``political considerations are more important than the national interests.''

Though the BJP was for honouring international commitments on patents, it felt that there was no need to hurry in passing the Bill. As the subject was very complicated, the Bill should have been referred to the Standing Committee, which could have debated various provisions of the legislation in consultation with experts and activists.

`No safeguards'

Mr. Naidu said that even the World Health Organisation and the pharmaceutical industry had expressed concern. ``There are not adequate safeguards in the Bill. The passage of the legislation will lead to drastic increase in the prices of essential medicines and life-saving drugs. It will also hurt the interests of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. This is yet another instance of the Congress' betrayal of ``Aam Aadmi.''

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