Even as the judiciary blames the government for lack of infrastructure and financial aid, replies by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on judicial reforms in the budget session show that grants to the judiciary have actually increased in the last three years.
On July 10, when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was presenting Budget 2014-15, Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha, in open court, lamented that funds allocation for judiciary was not even one per cent.
“It is 0.4 per cent. How do we construct more courts and improve infrastructure for speedy dispensation of justice?” the Chief Justice had remarked.
Answers by the Law Minister in the Lok Sabha shed more light on the issue.
On July 21, Mr. Prasad showed that Rs. 895 crore was released in 2013-14 under the “Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary,” compared with Rs. 708 crore in 2012-13 and Rs. 595 crore in 2011-12.
“An assessment of fund requirement for subordinate courts’ infrastructure undertaken in 2011 estimated that funds to the tune of Rs. 7,346 crore would be needed for the period 2011-16,” Mr. Prasad said responding to a question by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. He said the Centre’s aid to courts had increased from 50 per cent to 75 per cent to “incentivise” the State governments to spend more. In Northeast States, the Centre’s assistance was 90 per cent of the infrastructure expenses for judiciary.
“As against the financial outgo of Rs. 1,245 crore on the scheme [Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Judicial Infrastructure] from 1993-94 to 2010-11, an amount of Rs. 2,198 crore has been released to the States/UTs from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2014,” Mr. Prasad said.
In fact, Mr. Prasad said grant of “indiscriminate adjournments” by courts in criminal cases, including rape, had contributed to delay in justice.
The Law Minister’s answer contrasts with the Chief Justice’s criticism that it is not judges but lack of technology that is causing delay in justice delivery.
