The
National Mission for Justice Delivery and legal Reforms was set up in June,
2011 to achieve the twin goals of increasing access by reducing delays and
arrears; and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting
performance standards and capacities. The Mission has become fully functional
from 2012-13 and is pursuing strategic initiatives: outlining policy and
legislative changes; re-engineering of procedures and court processes;
focussing on Human Resource Development; and leveraging Information and
Communication Technology & tools for better justice delivery. The Mission
will adopt a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and
pendency in judicial administration which would, inter alia, involve better
infrastructure for courts including computerisation, increase in strength of
subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to
excessive litigation, re-engineering of court procedure for quick disposal of
cases.
Policy and Legislative Changes
In short span of its existence, the
Mission has taken several steps in each of the strategic areas towards
fulfillment of its objectives. Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill has
been prepared. The Bill has already been
passed by the Lok Sabha and is now before the Rajya Sabha for consideration. Constitution amendment bill for raising the
retirement age of High Court Judges is also before the Parliament.
A comprehensive proposal has been formulated
for constitution of All India Judicial Service and the proposal is before
Committee of Secretaries. 25 States have formulated their Litigation Policies with
a view to reduce the Governmental litigation.
Litigation Policy at the national level is also on the anvil.
An
Inter-Ministerial Group has been constituted to suggest necessary amendments to
the Negotiable Instruments Act along with other policy and administrative
measures to check increasing litigation relating to cheque bounce cases. First
meeting of IMG was held on 30th, May 2012 and decisions taken in the
meeting are being pursued for follow up action with Department of Financial
Services, Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks Association for reducing the
burden of cheque bouncing cases on our criminal justice system.
Re-Engineering Court Procedures and Court
Processes
An important aspect of the judicial
reforms relates to re-engineering court procedures and court processes for
early disposal of cases. A National
Court Management System has been recently notified by the Supreme Court for
addressing the issues of case management, court management, setting measurable
standards for performance of the courts and the National System of Judicial
Statistics in the country. The National Mission would coordinate with NCMS and
would render necessary assistance in achieving the goal of reducing pendency in
courts.
A
Sub Group on improving the court procedure and court processes for better
criminal justice system has been constituted under Chairman, Law Commission to
suggest necessary changes in this regard. The Commission has already prepared a
Report on inordinate delays in investigation and prosecution of criminal cases
against influential persons and measures needed to reform the criminal justice
system.
Infrastructure Development
Infrastructure development for the subordinate judiciary is a major
thrust area of the National Mission.
With a view to enhancing the resources of the State Governments, the
Government has increased the central share by revising the funding pattern from
50:50 to 75:25 (for States other than North Eastern States) under modified
Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of infrastructure facilities for the
judiciary from the year 2011-12 onwards.
The funding pattern for North-Eastern States has been kept as 90:10 from
2010-11. Central assistance amounting to
over ` two thousand crore has been released to States and Union Territories
since inception of the scheme out of which an amount of over ` two hundred
crore has been released so far during current financial year.
Gram Nyayalayas
The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has been enacted
for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas at the grass roots level for providing
access to justice to citizens at their doorstep.The Central Government provides
assistance to States for non-recurring expenses for setting up of Gram
Nyayalayas and for meeting the cost of recurring expenses for running these
Gram Nyayalayas for the first three years.
At
the time of enactment of Gram Nyayalayas Act it was envisaged that 5067 Gram
Nyayalayas would be set up throughout the country for which Central Government
would provide recurring and non-recurring assistance to States as per
prescribed norms. The progress of the Gram Nyayalayas Scheme has not
been up to expectations so far.
To further incentivize the State
Governments for early operationalisation of Gram Nyayalayas, a comprehensive
proposal for merger of Gram Nyayalayas scheme with the Centrally sponsored
Scheme for development of infrastructure facilities for the subordinate
judiciary has been prepared. The norms
for providing central assistance towards recurring expenditure are also
proposed to be revised upwards. The proposal is presently awaiting approval of
Planning Commission and Ministry of Finance.
Pendency Reduction Drive
The Government had launched a
pendency reduction drive from July 2011 to December, 2011. Chief Justices of the High Courts were
requested by the Minister of Law and Justice to initiate a campaign mode
approach towards clearing long pending cases and cases relating to marginalized
sections of the society. As per feedback
received from various High Courts, total pendency was reduced by over 6 lakh
cases out of which about 1.36 lakh cases belonged to targeted groups such as
senior citizens, disabled, minors and marginalized sections of society.
One
of the important components of pendency reduction drive related to release of
under-trial prisoners from jail. In terms of the extant provisions of Criminal
Procedure Code, the under-trials who have completed half of the maximum
specified punishment for various offences in jail need to be released on
personal bond. As per the information
received from various High Courts, around 3.16 lakh under-trial prisoners were
released from the prisons during the campaign period.
A
similar drive has been launched by the Minister of Law and Justice this year as
well from July, 2012 to December, 2012. The main focus of pendency reduction
drive this year is to make our judicial system ‘five plus’ free. Simultaneously
emphasis is being laid on increasing the number of judges in subordinate
judiciary by filling the existing vacancies and creating additional posts so
that disposal of cases is expedited by setting up of additional courts.
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