Law minister dismisses reports on confrontation with judiciary

Union law minister Kiren Rijiu was speaking in Madurai at an event organised by the Madras High Court.

Dismissing reports of confrontation between the judiciary and the government, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on March 25 said that differences in opinion is common in a democratic country, it can however not be called confrontation.

He said: “Our relationship with judiciary is excellent. We live in a democratic country, there are bound to be differences in terms of outlook, that doesn’t mean there is a confrontation.” Emphasising that there is no problem between the organs of the democracy, Rijiju said that: “Indian government will always support to ensure that the independence of judiciary is maintained and strengthened.”

Rijiu was speaking in Madurai at an event organised by the Madras High Court for laying of foundation stone for additional court buildings in Madurai and the inauguration of the Mayiladuthurai Court.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud was the chief guest at the event, and others in attendance included Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, finance minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, and Justices MM Sundaresh and Ramasubramanian, judges of the Supreme Court.

Union Budget allocating Rs 7,000 crore to e courts a game changer:

The law minister remarked the allocation of Rs 7,000 crore to the third phase of Ecourts in the 2023 Union budget is a game changer. Rijiju noted that the Ecourts project is very critical for the judiciary as it will improve the functioning to a large extent. He further said that it is important for judiciary to go paper less as it will improve many processes and help reduce pendency. Noting that technology will help change a lot of things, he informed that the work is under progress to implement technology in many aspects of judiciary.

Pendency:

Rijiju noted that while the rate of pendency is alarming at 4.9 crore cases, the judges cannot be blamed for it because they are also under constant pressure with each of them hearing 50-60 cases a day. He said: “We can’t compare Indian court with that of western countries. In India every judge handles 50-60 cases in a day and the mental pressure is tremendous. The disposal rate of cases is rising, however double the amount of cases are instituted.” According to Rijiju, the only way to handle the problem of pendency is to improve the infrastructure and strengthen the judiciary.

Judicial infrastructure:

Hailing judicial infrastructure in Tamil Nadu, Rijiju said it is comparatively better than many states in India. He noted that judicial infrastructure can be enhanced only when judiciary and government come together to sort the issues.

Rijiju highlighted that some states are not fully utilising the funds allotted by the centre to improve judicial infrastructure, however there is a demand for infrastructure noting that this is because of a lack of coordination. Rijiju said that the law ministry can demand more funds from the finance ministry only if the existing funds are utilised. He said: “Money is not a problem but utilisation of the money is an issue with many states.”

Regional language in courts:

While noting that he will be happy to see all the courts in TN use the Tamil language in pleadings and judgment, he said Tamil could one day be used in SC as well. Rijiju stated the government is putting efforts to ensure  concrete steps are taken in using Indian languages across all courts in India.

Rijiju urged the bar and the bench to work together to make court rooms conducive for everyone and improve access to justice.