A vibrant subordinate judiciary is the need of the hour to bring down pendency of cases and to ensure that the litigant does not lose hope in the maze that the legal system has become, said Justice P. Sathasivam, Judge, Supreme Court here on Saturday.
Addressing the newly recruited 11 District Judges and 63 Junior Civil Judges undergoing training at the Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy, Justice Sathasivam advised the judicial officers to be meticulous in their work and thorough with basic principles and legislations to control the court effectively.
Literacy rate
For every 1,000 people, 50 cases were being filed. With increase in literacy rate and per capita income, the petitions would only increase. Judgement should be delivered within 30 days of final hearing of a case, he said.
One way of tackling pendency is computerisation of all listed cases, Justice Sathasivam said citing the experience in the Supreme Court. By the click of a case number, one can ascertain the status of case in the website. It also displayed the orders given during the day by 5 p.m. once the Judge approved it, he said.
Cases pending for more than five years should be taken up on a priority and preference was being given to cases related to women, children and senior citizens.
‘Comply with provisions’
He asked them to be well versed with all laws, particularly amendment to criminal law in view of growing atrocities against women and children, RTE and ensure that provisions of the law were complied with.
Justice Chalameswar, Judge, Supreme Court, said pendency of cases should be tackled on a war footing.
Chief Justice of A. P. High Court Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta said pendency in courts was the biggest challenge and judicial officers should strive to deliver justice in a reasonable time.
Judicial Academy President Justice N. V. Ramana said the 23-year-old Academy had trained over 14,000 judicial officers so far. The Supreme Court Judges also released three publications of Academy.
