Roadmap for judicial reforms soon: Moily

Union law minister M Veerappa Moily today said a road map for judicial reforms would be ready by September 30.

A national consultation meeting would be held on August 22 and August 23 at the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, where the “final shape” of the judicial reforms, including legal education, would be evolved, Moily told reporters here. Members of Judiciary, jury and government besides vice-chancellors of certain law schools would attend the meeting, the minister said.

He said the government was working out a process for speedy disposal of a large number of pending cases by making use of technologies like ICT, Internet, modernisation and computerisation.

Though High Courts have to inform about vacancy of judges with in six months of it, in many cases there had been delay, the minister said. “High Court judges... Currently there are 275 vacancies. Out of these, we have received 45 proposals (informing about the vacancies) but others (proposals) are yet to come,” he said.

Earlier, the Moily gave away ‘Microsoft Intellectual Property Scholars Programme' award to 23 students from 13 law schools. Since its inception in 2006, Microsoft has received 200 entries for the programme. During the last three years, 64 students have been awarded the Microsoft scholarship for their research papers on pre-approved topics related to IPR.

“As India inches towards becoming a global economic power, the importance of carrying out activities in the areas of R&D and IP becomes even more critical. Steps which make intellectual property a mandatory subject in the curricula are positive developments and should be supported and encouraged at all levels,” Moily said.

Access to applications which promote learning is a crucial factor of any educational system. Scholarship programmes such as the Microsoft Scholars Programme allow budding entrants to think out of the box and explore the multifaceted challenges that face this dynamic field," Moily said.