Fund us to strengthen judicial system in state, Bihar tells Centre

New Delhi: Bihar today sought financial assistance from the Centre to strengthen the state’s judicial system through increasing the number of judicial officers and non-gazetted employees and expanding infrastructure.[caption id=“attachment_2175313” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] At the joint conference of Chief Justices of the 24 High Courts and Chief Ministers, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his being a “resource poor” state, it needs financial help from the Centre to strengthen the judicial system. “There is need of funds for increasing the number of judicial officers and non-gazetted employees and to expand the basic infrastructure of judiciary. A resource-poor state like Bihar is facing problems to fulfil the same with its own resources. It is important to increase financial help under 14th Finance Commission,” Kumar said. “It is being felt that 75 percent cooperation of the Central government is necessary for providing adequate compensation to persons affected by criminal offences under atrocities compensation scheme through Legal Services Authority,” he said. Kumar also sought the Centre’s support in providing various facilities to advocates under the 14th Finance Commission. “Bihar is resource poor state. In spite of all our efforts the state cannot achieve expected result without the help of the Centre. We need required financial help from the Central government for strengthening the judicial system,” he said. Kumar said the budget provision for setting up of village courts is insufficient due to which construction of building for office and residence of judges had become “impossible”. In the year 2014, total 3,05,570 cases have been disposed by subordinate courts. At the same time, total 81,449 cases have been disposed by the high court. He said Bihar has started speedy trial of the serious cases like kidnapping, arms act, robbery and other serious criminal cases from 2006 under which 92,652 guilty persons have been punished till 2014. Kumar, however, said there has been a decrease in the number of cases disposed since 2011 as the financial aid provided by the Centre for conducting fast-track court was “stopped”. He said it is necessary to find out a suitable judicial process in order to bring down the number of cases pending in the courts. “The state government is always curious and prompt to participate in such attempts to meet the said object. For speedy disposal of cases pending in the courts, besides other cases, a district level Monitoring Committee being presided over by the concerned District and Sessions Judge is in action,” he said. Elaborating on the committee, Kumar said it comprises of District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police and holds meeting every month to consider the problems and obstacles in disposal of pending cases and other related problems. Noting that the state government has taken positive steps for providing reservation to backward classes in subordinate judiciary, he said the consent has not been given to this proposal by the high court. “Reservation is being provided to backward classes in subordinate courts and government services in other states. There is no proper reason to adopt separate standard in Bihar. Therefore, consent may be given to the proposal for providing reservation to backward classes in judicial services in Bihar,” he said. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das emphasised the need for coordination among the judiciary, the executive and the legislative to ensure justice to people. He said that Jharkhand government is committed to judicial system. He said that there should be use of IT in the judicial system. He said a comprehensive plan has been made to connect district courts with the high court and with jails, police stations and hospitals. He said plans are afoot to ensure that 100 percent solar energy is used in various district courts. Das said work in this regard has already been started in Khunti district court and based on the results, it will be taken forward. He said that his government was also working towards establishing village courts. PTI