Need to improve conditions in lower courts: CJI

Chief Justice of India S. H. Kapadia on Saturday said it was the need of the hour to improve the conditions in the country's lower courts. He was speaking at the inauguration of a new District Court complex for the Capital.

Justice Kapadia said that with the commissioning of the new District Court at Saket in South Delhi a new era has been ushered in for the benefit of litigants, advocates and visitors.




It would also facilitate documentation of records and maintenance of legal issues in a better way.

Lauding the Delhi Government's role in improving the delivery of justice, the Chief Justice said the budgetary allocation on this head in Delhi was 1.6 per cent of the total allocation as against 0.5 per cent in the rest of the country.

Describing the judiciary and the courts as knowledge organisations, Justice Kapadia said people were fortunate that the rule of law still prevails in our country.


Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the Delhi Government is conscious of its responsibility to provide easy access to justice at a low cost. “Keeping an alarming situation of increase of cases in the courts, we are not only to strengthen the existing system but have to implement other modes of resolution of disputes. The Government has taken the initiative to bring law and justice into the day-to-day lives of the citizens,'' she said.

The approach in this direction has been multi-pronged, she said. “On the one hand the infrastructure has been strengthenedand on the other innovative methods have been initiated to find new ways to bring justice closer and more accessible to the citizens.''

The Chief Minister said her government has also initiated innovative measures with such a mechanism under the Department of Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs. It has established a society by the name of Delhi Dispute Resolution Society with the objective of providing prompt justice to people before they go to the court or the police.

“We have already established a few mediation centres and more are likely to be established very shortly in all areas of the city,'' she added.