The Hindu : National : Work on Saturdays too, Kalam tells judges

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Sunday, May 01, 2005

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Work on Saturdays too, Kalam tells judges

J. Venkatesan

Advocates "exemplary penalty for seeking undue adjournment"

NEW DELHI: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has asked the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts to work on Saturdays to reduce the pendency of cases.

Inaugurating the All-India Seminar on Judicial Reforms with Special Reference to Arrears of Court Cases, organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on Friday, Mr. Kalam said the pendency of cases in the High Courts had increased from three million to 3.4 million. In district courts, they had increased from 20.6 million cases to 23.4 million cases. However, in the Supreme Court, the pendency had come down from 36,000 cases in 1995 to 30,000 in 2004.

If all the 24 judges of the Supreme Court "take up a thousand additional cases to be cleared during two years by working two additional hours on all working days and on Saturdays, I am sure by 2007, the pending cases can be minimised substantially," he said. The judges of the High Courts and the district courts could follow a similar model.

"The judicial community can consider reduction of the total number of holidays in a year and working on Saturdays at least till the backlog is cleared. Such type of working is normal in mission-oriented organisations in the country." Further, it would be a good practice to make the number of cases cleared by a particular judge during the year known to the public through the Internet.

Mr. Kalam advocated "exemplary penalty for seeking undue adjournment and initiating frivolous litigation."

"No place for deadwood"

Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti said the judiciary had become more efficient and the justice delivery mechanism had been speeded up. "There is more punctuality, timely delivery of judgments and a strong message has gone across that the deadwood would be removed and that they have no place in the Indian judiciary."

Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj said the Supreme Court judges had done tremendous work in reducing the arrears from about a lakh cases to just 24,000 in 10 years. "The judges of the apex court are a tired lot. They should do less work. This is my view though it is for the Supreme Court to decide."

Circuit Benches

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee regretted that all proposals for setting up Circuit Benches of the Supreme Court in different parts of the country had been found to be unacceptable. "As it is understood, the move has been met with the disapproval on the ground that such benches would affect the integrity and unitary character of the court and would lead to unsettled jurisdiction," he said.

P.H. Parekh, president of SCBA, spoke on the occasion.

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