Kochi: Chief Justice of India Justice K G
Balakrishnan on Saturday said more funds should be allocated for
setting up new courts as the country lacked sufficient number
of them.
In India there is a shortage of about 85 per cent courts,
he said, adding that while China had about 1.30 lakh courts,
India lacked sufficient courts with only about 14,000
subordinate courts.
Of the 4000 'Grama Nayalayas' which were to be set up in
the country, only 10-15 have come up so far, he said.
In India, not a 'docket explosion', but 'docket
exclusion' was taking place. People should be able to come to
courts, he said in his inaugural address at the Kerala High
Court Day celebrations here.
The Chief Justice said more funds have been sought from
the Planning Commission. "If more courts are not set up,
people would lose faith in the judiciary," he said, adding
before the situation, becomes "explosive", government should
allot more funds.
Last year, 1.5 crore cases were filed in different courts
in the country, he said.
Kerala High Court Chief Justice S R Bannurmath said the
pendency of cases in the High Court was 1,12,939 and 9,88,238
in subordinate courts. Of these, this year itself 68,190 main
cases have been disposed of by the High Court, including 53
full bench cases.
Over 10,000 cases pending for five years or more have
been disposed of, Justice S R Bannurmath he said. Additional
benches for disposal of old civil and criminal cases have been
constituted.
This year disposal of Writ Appeals, Regular First
Appeals, Land Acquisition Appeals, Tax matters was more
compared to last year due to full-fledged cooperation from the
bar and the benches, he said.
The Kerala High Court was the only court in the country
working five and half hours every day unlike five hours in
other high courts, Justice Bannurmath said.
Supreme Court Judge Justice Cyriac Joseph said the media
while reporting speeches of judges should exercise caution.
The advocates while passing resolutions against judges should
do so after ascertaining facts, he added.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 21:09