Activists lament low budget allocation for law min

Nyay Yatra, a march launched in January to raise the issue of pendency of cases, today lamented the "low budget allocation" to the Law Ministry in India compared to other countries.
Pravin Patel, national convenor of the Yatra which arrived in the city this morning said a small budgetary allocation is done for the judiciary by successive governments as all establishments detest a strong judicial network.
"Only 0.2 per cent of the total budget was alloted for the Law ministry in India, one of the lowest in the world. Whereas in Singapore, it is 1.2 per cent of the total budget, 1.4 per cent in UK and 4.3 per cent in the US," he said.

The Law Ministry has been provided with Rs 900 crore in the Union Budget for 'administration of justice', including setting up of e-courts and capacity building of subordinate judiciary.
The Yatra organised by Delhi-based Forum For Fast Justice and is scheduled to conclude later this week, also raised concerns over the high pendency of court cases and the subsequent "delay in delivering justice" to the masses.
"In spite of a well-defined Constitution and robust judiciary, people are not getting justice due to a long pendency of court cases. It robs people of their most important right."

He had noted yesterday in Allahabad that there were "close to three crore" cases pending in courts currently across the country.

Nyay Yatra was launched on January 30 from New Delhi to raise awareness about the need for speedy justice.
"After traversing through thousands of kilometres in 35 days, the Yatra will commence at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on March 4", Patel had said.
The Yatra has so far covered Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.