The Hindu : National : Lahoti unveils plan for speedy disposal of cases

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 13, 2005

National

National

Lahoti unveils plan for speedy disposal of cases

J. Venkatesan

Information, communication technology to be put to use

Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti on Wednesday unveiled a Rs. 670-crore, five-year action plan for effective use of information and communication technology for speedy disposal of cases and to wipe out arrears of over three crore cases.

One of the major reasons for the accumulation of cases was that the Government provided "very little" financial support to the judiciary compared to other institutions since Independence, he said.

The Government had not taken any action on reports of the Law Commission, other panels such as the Malimath Committee and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, suggesting improvement of the functioning of courts.

Even computerisation under an integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) scheme to make the functioning of the judiciary effective could be implemented only with a lot of persuasion on his part.

Mr. Justice Lahoti was speaking at the presentation of a report on a "Strategic Plan for Interpretation of Information and Communication Technology in Indian Judiciary" here.

The ICT scheme would be put in action in three phases, which would provide the videoconferencing facility, creating a data base of information, transparent procedures, speedy disposal of cases doing away with unnecessary paper work and creation of web sites with total information about judgments and orders.

Rs. 670 crores would be spent on computerisation through networking of courts in the next five years under the plan prepared by the G.C. Bharuka committee.

Justice Bharuka, former Patna High Court judge, said over 30,000 cases were pending in the Supreme Court, more than 33.79 lakhs in High Courts and 2.78 crores in the lower judiciary.

There were over 12,400 courts and at least 10,000 more courts would be needed in the next two years to clear the backlog of cases.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National