Kerala   

More courts to be set up: CJI

Kochi: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on Saturday said that the Central government proposed to sanction as many as 7,000 subordinate courts in the country with a view to reducing the backlog of cases.

Inaugurating Kerala High Court Day, the Chief Justice said that the backlog of cases all over the country till January 2007 was 2.52 crore. However, it had now gone up to 2.56 crore.

The cases were accumulating not because the judicial officers did not dispose of cases on time but because of the dearth of courts. In fact, judicial offices were discharging their duties well.

He said that earlier the government had proposed to set up panchayat courts. But the Supreme Court had taken objection to the proposal and demanded sanction of courts to be headed by legally trained officers. The Chief Justice of India said that the pendency of cases could be reduced to a certain extent when the government proposal on new courts was implemented.

Justice Balakrishnan said that every judicial officer including Supreme Court and High Court judges should be given training at the National Judicial Academy or the State Judicial Academy. It would inculcate in them the principles of constitutionalism and judicial ethics and improve the justice delivery system.

In fact, training was now being given to subordinate judges. He said that the Supreme Court judges were also going to have a training session at the National Judicial Academy. The Chief Justice said that the strength of the judges in the Kerala High Court would be increased. The number of judges to be sanctioned would depend on the decision taken by the Central government. Presiding over the function, Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court H.L. Dattu said that in January 2007, the High Court had an inflow of 66,000 cases. But the High Court disposed of 76,000 cases. The backlog of cases in the subordinate courts was “slightly alarming”. The subordinate courts had a pendency of 3.67 lakh cases. He urged the subordinate judges to put in more efforts to dispose of cases.

The Chief Justice also announced the launch of a programme for young lawyers to enrich their legal knowledge. He also announced the allotment of a site near the High Court complex for the construction of chambers for lawyers subject to the approval of the government.

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