Union Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Sunday that all subordinate courts in the country would be converted into fast track courts (FTC) within three months.
Talking to journalists at the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters here, Mr. Moily said Rs. 20,000 crore was sanctioned for the purpose and the Chief Justices of all the 21 High Courts in the country were informed of this.
He said that henceforth there would be no selective fast track courts. The Law Minister's answer was to a query on 235 fast tracks courts in U.P., the validity of which expires on February 28. He said the idea behind the exercise was to ensure that justice was not delayed and no case was pending for more than three years.
The Minister said corruption cases should not be pending for more than six months to one year, with an outer limit of three years.
He said the draft of the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill had been prepared for tackling corruption in the High Courts. Another Bill was being drafted aimed at preventing corruption among public servants and steps were on the anvil for making budding lawyers global players. A gender neutral bill was being drafted to address the problem of laws being biased against women.
The Minister was in Lucknow to participate in the regional consultations on electoral reforms. Sunday's was the fourth edition of the regional consultations on poll reforms in a State capital. Similar discussions were earlier held in Bhopal, Kolkata and Mumbai. Consultations will be held in three other State capitals before the national-level meeting in New Delhi on April 2 and 3.
