Karnataka - Bangalore

State says it is ready for evening courts

BANGALORE: The State Government on Saturday indicated that it was ready to back the setting up of evening courts in Karnataka.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan and several judges of the Supreme Court and High Court that the State would extend all support and cooperation if the judiciary decided on the constitution of evening courts.

The Chief Minister gave this commitment on the High Court premises when he, along with Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Kumar, and others took part in a joint ‘Executive-Judiciary’ initiative on video-conferencing.

The Chief Minister’s office had lent the equipment for video-conferencing to the High Court.

In turn, the High Court formally interacted through video conferencing with 18 district courts.

Chief Justice Balakrishnan inaugurated the video-conferencing and urged the presiding officers of the lower judiciary to make efforts to dispose of cases expeditiously to bring down the pendency of cases.

Supreme Court Judge Arijit Pasayat said there were 1.58 lakh petty cases pending trial in Bangalore city courts. He suggested that many of these cases be disposed of by the courts. Supreme Court Judge R.V. Raveendran urged the lower judiciary to take the lead in disposing of cases expeditiously.

Supreme Court Judge P. Sathasivam said evening courts had been introduced in Tamil Nadu and they had proved a huge success. He suggested to the Chief Minister that Karnataka too, could examine the concept of evening courts.

Chief Justice of the Tamil Nadu High Court Ashok Kumar Ganguly and Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court P.D. Dinakaran spoke on the occasion.

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