Kerala - Kochi   

Advocate General told to hold talks

Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday “impressed” upon the Advocate General to hold a discussion with the Ministers of Law, Home and Finance for establishing new courts in the State.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice A.K. Basheer granted the Advocate General six weeks’ time to come out with a positive statement.

The court passed the order on a petition filed by National Foundation on for Consumer Awareness and Studies general secretary V.K. Joseph complaining about the inordinate delay in disposing of cases by courts. He said that if there was undue delay in disposing of cases, people would lose faith in judiciary. Besides, the under-trials were forced to languish in jails for long because of the delay.

In a counter affidavit, the government said that it was not in a position to establish new courts in the State. The setting up of new courts entailed huge expenses. As on December 31, 2007, as many as 9,45,407 cases were pending in various courts, of which 5,65,531 were criminal cases and the rest civil. The government said that steps had been taken to set up evening courts. A committee could be constituted for evaluation of the need to have more courts.

A Bench comprising Justice P.R. Raman and Justice T.R. Ramachandran Nair on Thursday admitted a writ petition filed by the Nair Service Society (NSS) challenging Sections 29A and 127A of the Hindu Religious Institutions (Amendment) Act making recruitments to the administrative service of the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards through the Public Service Commission .

In the petition, NSS general secretary P.K. Narayana Panicker said the sections were ultra vires of the provisions of the Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950 which conferred absolute power to select and make appointments to the Devaswom services on the Devaswom boards. As per the provisions of the Act, Hindus who believe in god and temple worship are eligible to get appointments in Devaswom services. The Devaswom boards which consisted of Hindu members would be able to know whether a candidate had knowledge about Hindu rituals and practices.

Justice S. Siri Jagan adjourned to June 30 the hearing on the Thrivandrum Golf Club takeover case.

Revenue Principal Secretary Nivedita P. Haran has filed an affidavit apologising for the embarrassment and inconvenience caused to the Advocate General and the court by her action in ignoring the Advocate General’s instructions.

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