New Delhi: The Supreme Court today mooted
the idea of separate and special national budget for
augmenting infrastructure for the judiciary.
The Court also suggested creating a Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPV) for managing funds for developing a robust
infrastructure for judiciary from the grassroots to the
highest level.
"Can`t we have a national budget for judicial
infrastructure?" a special bench comprising Chief Justice S H
Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and K S Radhakrishnan said
while deliberating on the issue of generating funds for
strengthening the judicial infrastructure.
It said the SPV for judiciary could be evolved on the
lines of CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and
Planning Authority) under which money is collected on the
basis of Net Present Value (NPV) of the forest land diverted
for non-forest use.
The Bench was of the view that a SPV for judicial
infrastructure could be evolved by collecting funds in the
form of court fees, costs and the money imposed as fine in
criminal cases.
"Why should we not have separate accounting of money
recovered under these three heads (courtfee, cost and fine).
There must be a method of accounting so that the money could
be generated under these three heads for a SPV," the Bench
said and sought a response from the Centre and state
governments within two weeks.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium supported the idea of
a SPV for improving the judicial infrastructure saying
"investment must take place for the development of judicial
infrastructure".
He said there should be a budget for a SPV.
The Solicitor General assured the Bench that state
governments will respond to its call and said there was a
positive feedback during the last one year from various Bar
Associations to augment the infrastructure of courts.
-PTI
