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Jethmalani promises radical judicial reforms

Ram Jethmalani, Union minister for law, justice and company affairs today promised to bring about radical changes in the judicial delivery system to ensure justice for all. Jethmalani was speaking at a Law Day function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on the lawns of the apex court to mark the golden jubilee of the adoption of the Constitution.

He said within two years he would plug all loopholes in the law responsible for delayed justice and would secure justice for children, women and weaker sections of the society.

He said during the last 50 years the bar seems to have lost direction. It was high time the bar resolved to find its direction again in order to gain the confidence and faith of the people in the legal system.

The Chief Justice of India Dr A S Anand emphasised the need for scientific analysis of the requirements of the judiciary. ''It has not been done in the last 50 years even once,'' he added.

He said that for the one billion population of the country a total number of about 13,000 judicial officers from the lowest level to the Supreme Court was ''grossly inadequate'' and was the single biggest factor for the huge backlog of cases.

He said the expenditure on the judiciary in the country was only 0.2 per cent of the Gross National Product as compared to 4.3 per cent in the United Kingdom. More than half of the expenditure on the judiciary was generated by itself through court fees, fines etc.

He said the judiciary should be given financial autonomy so that it did not have to negotiate with the biggest litigant -- the State -- every time it needed funds. The executive should at least loosen its purse strings and improve the service conditions of the 12,300-strong subordinate judiciary to begin with and provide more courts with proper infrastructure.

The audience was also addressed by the Supreme Court Bar Association President K K Venugopal, Bar Association of India President F S Nariman and Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee.

UNI

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