Courts in country lack basic facilities: CJI Misra

Various courts across the country do not have basic facilities for litigants, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said on Wednesday.

"I must admit that the condition of infrastructure of the courts in India is not all rosy," he said while in his address at the inauguration of new court block of the Delhi High Court here.

"Courts in the country do not have basic facilities for litigants. Most the subordinate courts of the country lacks basic infrastructure for judges, court staffs, and litigants.

"It goes without saying that the most important factor contributing in a negative manner amounting to arrears and backlog of cases is the lack of adequate numbers of court rooms and other necessary infrastructure," said the Chief Justice.

Meanwhile Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad cited the Narendra Modi government's allocation of over Rs 2,800 crores in the last four years which was nearly half of the over Rs 6,000 crore given for developing judicial infrastructure in the country since 1993-94.

Responding to Law Minister's speech, the CJI said: "The Law Minister has talked thousands and thousand of crores, but I am going to ask him about the percentage...."

Prasad however said that differences among judges should be left to the "foresight and statesmanship" of the judiciary and should not be "politicised".

"Let us not politicise the differences, because an independent judiciary with qualities of foresight, statesmanship and capacity to resolve their differences is also integral to Indian democracy," he said.

The new block of Delhi High Court accommodates 15 courtrooms across four floors and nine Registrars' courts on the ground floor. This brings the existing number of courtrooms to 50 for judges and nine for Registrars.

It has 16 new chambers for judges and nine chambers for Registrars and additional workspace for judicial offices.

The building is designed to cater to the needs of differently-abled litigants and lawyers with tactile flooring and specially designed toilets for differently-abled people.

--IANS

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