PANAJI: The Union Law Minister, Mr Veerappa Moily on Sunday said that Goa has the potential to become the first state to be arrear free as regards to cases in the courts were concerned, even as he said that the state has been given the target of making at least one of the courts of the Goa bench of Bombay High Court and one of the sessions court paper free at the earliest.
Addressing a press conference in the presence of the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, Chief Justices of various courts and Union Law Secretary at the end of regional review meeting as regards to implementation of 13th Finance Commission recommendations for improving justice delivery and other matters held here, Mr Moily also said that Goa could be a good centre for arbitration and a preferred destination for international mediation.
He said that the 13th Finance commission has allocated Rs 14,000 crore for improving the justice delivery system in the country and judicial infrastructure, including filling up of vacant posts in the judiciary at the earliest of which Rs 5,000 crore were already released. He said that there was a proposal to create special courts (morning and evening) for fast disposal of cases in courts and to bring down the period of disposal of cases to three years.
Stating that 30 per cent of the space in various courts was occupied by either the state governments or the Centre, he said that this space should be vacated so that common man gets opportunity to get redressal of his cases. He also said that 100 per cent funds were also being given by the Centre for computerisation of courts for faster processing and speeding up justice delivery system.
Mr Moily said that the national litigation policy to bring down cases has already been framed and that states should frame policy to reduce the cases, failing which the next installment of funds for reforms would not be released by the Centre. He also said that it has been proposed to set up commercial courts in high courts to settle commercial disputes.
The Union Law Minister also said that as per the central government programme that began on January 26, 2010, for faster justice delivery and clearance of pending cases, over 2 lakh prisoners “awaiting” justice for various crimes have been freed and more would be freed by July 31. “This will be a sustaining programme,” he said adding that there was also a proposal to upgrade the infrastructure in the subordinate courts at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore.
Mr Moily also said that the Union government has a proposal to amend the Arbitration and Reconciliation Act and to upgrade the mediation centres in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore and make them as arbitration centres. He further said that setting up of arbitration centres would help the country resolve the matter fast and save a lot of money, which otherwise was spent on getting the matters resolved in Singapore and Hong Kong.
He said that the All India Judicial Service was envisaged to attract best talents in justice delivery system, adding that a concept of appointment of judicial manager would be introduced in high courts and district to lessen the burden on judges. He went on to add that trained personnel appointed as judicial managers would handle the administrative work thereby allowing the judges to look after court cases for about 2-3 hours daily.
Stating that the discussion at the fifth meeting in Goa was the best ever in the series, where views and discussions were aired by the chief justices of five High Courts in the region, legal officer etc, he said that this would help the Union authorities take a decision on how to solve problems faced by the judiciary and create a better infrastructure.
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