Backlog concerns: PM wants rural courts set up fast

Expressing concern over the backlog of cases at every judicial level, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked states to hasten implementation of the legislation to set up rural courts, which will add more than 5,000 such bodies across the country.

"We have passed the Gram Nyayalaya Act... I urge the states to implement this. Once the Act is fully implemented, it would add more than 5,000 courts at the panchayat level," he said inaugurating a national convention on 'Law and Justice and the Common Man' here.

"This will bring justice to the doorsteps of the common man," the Prime Minister said. Singh said his government has also decided to set up 71 additional CBI courts in different states.

"We expect these fast track courts to conduct their business differently and faster than normal courts and thus contribute to reducing the large pendency of cases at various levels," he said.

The Prime Minister said his government would continue to augment and improve the judicial infrastructure to ensure speedy access to justice to all citizens.

He said the backlog of cases was not the only issue that needed to be resolved. "Certain laws which have ceased to be relevant either need to be deleted from the statute book or amended," he said.

Singh said that procedural laws have to be pruned and streamlined. The Prime Minister said legal and judicial reform is not the concern only of the judiciary or the legislature.

"It is equally the solemn responsibility of the executive and indeed of the Bar," he said. "All of us have to pool our wisdom, knowledge and experience to move forward in this area," Singh added.