'Rising number of cases resulting in resentment among poor'

Asserting the need to make judicial process more accessible for the poor, Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda today said inaccessible justice coupled with rise in number of grievances is resulting in growing resentment among them.
"Inaccessible justice costs us all but visits its harshest consequences on the poorest people. From the unprecedented increase in receipt of grievances, I can sense the intensity of the anger boiling within people and realise that the seeds of revolution are being sown," he said, addressing a gathering at the 14th All India Meet of State Legal Services Authorities here.
Expressing concern over inaccessibility of judicial processes by the marginalised section, he said "there will be discontent and alienation from the justice system among them".

"If the legal and judicial systems seem far removed and inaccessible to the poor and the marginalised, if they are unaware of their rights or they know their rights but are not aware of the process of availing those rights, there will be discontent and alienation from the justice system," he said.
"We will be failing in our constitutional and moral duty to provide for such access to justice," he added.
India, Gowda said, is in an unhappy situation where two-thirds of jail inmates are undertrials.

"It is almost a failure of our legal aid system that most of those who could have been released but for the lack of legal aid or money for surety or bail bonds are poor and marginalised," he said.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has taken the directions seriously and is working towards establishing fully functional legal aid clinics in all jails so that cases of undertrials can be under constant monitoring so that no undertrial remains in jails for reason of lack of legal aid alone, he said.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee overseeing his
Ministry has been critical of the lack of full utilisation of budget by NALSA, and has been recommending increased initiatives on access to justice, Gowda said.
"The Government has budgeted Rs 140 crore for this year (2016-17) and we hope that the legal service authorities will be able to fully utilise the amount," the minister said.

He also said under Phase II of the eCourts Mission Mode Project, it is planned to provide computer hardware to all district and taluka Legal Services Authorities so as to integrate them into the automated environment of justice dispensation envisioned under the project.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the policy of the government is to be people-friendly and not to encourage litigation on trivial issues.
"As we are aware the high court is taking steps to construct mediation centres with all the district headquarters, the government will look into this and will provide financial assistance, wherever consider necessary," he said.