Date:10/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/10/stories/2008051060090700.htm

Tamil Nadu

State should provide adequate machinery for justice: A. P. Shah

Special Correspondent

Efficiency of the judiciary depends on the people manning it

— Photo: M. Vedhan

BIDDING adieu: The outgoing Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, A.P.Shah (right), with High Court judges in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: Though it is often lamented that the judicial system has collapsed, the country has a time-tested system and there is no justification to discard it by giving it a bad name, outgoing Chief Justice of the Madras High Court A.P.Shah said on Friday.

At a farewell function on his transfer as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, he said the working efficiency of the judiciary depended on the people manning it and their capacity to generate confidence in the people who waited for receiving the service.

The judiciary functioned with considerable handicaps such as inadequate number of judges, funds crunch, lack of resources, shortage of staff and lack of infrastructure. Considering the country’s immensity, its diversity, huge population, range of cases and the volume of litigation, the judiciary carried a phenomenal burden, which, perhaps, no other judiciary in the world had had to shoulder.

The State should provide adequate machinery for justice, appoint more judges, give them better emoluments and facilities, build more courts, enact better laws and device better dispute resolution procedures, and administer more effectively and equitably, rather than blame lawyers and judges for the increase in litigation, Mr. Justice Shah said.

The Chief Justice said he considered his 29-month tenure in Chennai a most purposeful and satisfying one. Advocate-General G. Masilamani said Mr. Justice Shah had delivered several landmark judgments while being a Judge of the Bombay High Court and Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

He never hesitated to come down heavily on authorities whenever any flaw committed by them was brought to his notice. At the same time, he discouraged false, frivolous litigations. He took efforts to fill vacancies in the High Court whenever they arose.

Mr. Justice Shah took over as Chief Justice in November 2005. Advocates said during his tenure besides swearing in 34 judges -- 17 on a single occasion -- and improving the infrastructure in the High Court and subordinate judiciary, Mr. Justice Shah started special cells in Namakkal, Dindigul, Theni, Cuddalore and Karur to address the rights of those living with HIV/AIDS and give them legal assistance through the legal services authority.

Child centre

He also started a child centre in the family court here. Mediation centres were opened in the districts. Besides toning up the functioning of the Tamil Nadu Judicial Academy, he decentralised the training programmes for judicial officers.