New Delhi, Aug 04: More than 24,000 cases in the Supreme Court, 3.5 lakh in high courts and another 2.05 crore cases are pending in lower courts, government informed the Rajya Sabha today. Giving this information, minister of state for law P C Thomas said government has moved to stipulate a time limit for disposal of particular cases. He said a national seminar held recently on 'access to justice' had recommended that in a contempt case, a judge should not be allowed to sit as a judge if the contempt was against himself. In reply to another question, Thomas said 36 family courts had been set up during 2002-03 and Centre was providing 50 per cent of estimated expenditure to the states for setting up such courts. The minister also said agencies which have outstandings had been asked to follow a payment plan to wipe off arrears in three months.
On queries about the source of fundings of foreign channels in the country, Prasad said government was collecting information which would be tabled in the house.
Bureau Report