More courts and judges needed to dispense justice effectively

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today favoured a suggestion by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan to open more courts to deal with corruption cases involving government officials.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today favoured a suggestion by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan to open more courts to deal with corruption cases involving government officials. Inaugurating a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, Manmohan Singh said that he also agreed with the idea that more judges should be appointed in high courts and trial courts to tackle the huge backlog of cases.

"The Chief Justice has written to me suggesting that we can create special courts to deal with corruption cases. I agree that there is (an) urgent need to do so. This will instill greater confidence in our justice delivery system, at home and abroad," the Prime Minister said. "Apart from pendency and delayed justice, corruption is another challenge we face both in the government and the judiciary," he added.

Terming the mounting arrears of cases in courts at various levels "a key challenge", Singh said that the central government would provide all help to tackle the challenge. He called upon the states to do the same. Favouring an increase in the number of judges at high courts and trial courts, PM said: “One of the solutions that has been suggested is to increase the number of judicial officers and judges in the high courts and the Supreme Court.”

The central government has taken steps to increase the number of judges of high courts. Recently 152 new posts of high court judges have been created and an increase in the number of judges in the Supreme Court is also being undertaken, he added.

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