Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Saturday said an exclusive building would be constructed soon for all judicial magistrate courts at the combined court complex.
In the presence of Madras High Court Judge Justice M. Jaichandren, the Chief Minister opened a mediation centre at the Union Territory of Puducherry Legal Services Authority (UTPLSA), bank extension counter, post office and dispensary at the combined court complex.
Speaking at the function, Mr. Rangasamy said the established facilities at the complex would be much helpful to lawyers and litigant public. He said steps would be taken soon to construct a separate building to house the judicial courts and the proposed combined court building at Karaikal would be opened soon.
Justice Mr. Jaichandren explained the objective of the Legal Services Authority.
The judge said, “For the common man, justice should not be a distant dream and law cannot be a cloistered virtue. It should be participatory. It has to reach the door steps of the poor and the downtrodden in full measure.” He added that quality justice should reach every poor person and downtrodden and that is the motto of legal services authority.
“Today, let us take a pledge to serve those who raise their voice to seek justice and those voiceless millions who may suffer in silence. For them the answer is today for tomorrow it may be too late. Judiciary is the last resort for the downtrodden, dwelling in the darkest corners of the society,” said Justice Mr. Jaichandren calling upon the advocates to advise their clients to take up alternate dispute resolution methods for expeditious and inexpensive justice.
He also stated that there are more than 20 million cases pending in the lower courts and more than 3 million cases pending in the high courts and 60,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court.
Justice Mr. Jaichandren said this is when only nine per cent of population have seen the corridors of the courts which means 91 per cent of the population never come to the court. “We are already struggling for various reasons. If another 10 or 20 per cent of people come asking for their rights, you can imagine what would happen. So we should be geared up either by using technology or by creating additional infrastructure,” he said.
During the function, a brochure in Tamil on Government Welfare Schemes for the workers in the unorganised sector was released and certificates and identity cards were issued to Para Legal Volunteers.
Principal District Judge C.V. Karthikeyan, UTPLSA member secretary G. Sendhil Kumar and Puducherry Bar Association president C.T. Rammesh were also present on the occasion.
