Tamil Nadu

Avoid court boycotts, SC judge tells lawyers

Photo: M. Balaji

OPENING DOORS OF JUSTICE: Judge of the Supreme Court Justice P. Sathasivam (third from left) inaugurating the District Munsiff Court at Avanashi on Saturday. Combatore District Collector V. Palanikumar (left), Judges of the Madras High Court, Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifullah (second left) and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan (second right) and Principal District Sessions Judge, Coimbatore, G. Chockalingam, are in the picture. —

Avanashi: In order to sustain the confidence of the people reposed on judiciary, lawyers should avoid court boycotts, said Justice P. Sathasivam, Judge of the Supreme Court on Saturday.

He was speaking at a function organised to inaugurate the District Munsif Court for Avanashi constructed with the funding from the advocates. Hitherto the court and criminal court were functioning together.

Justice Sathasivam said the image of the judiciary in disposing civil cases should change, as people are afraid of approaching courts because of the inordinate delay in disposing the same.

He also pointed out that there had been an increasing trend in terms of the number of cases relating to section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act in industrial and commercial cities and towns.

He said that Coimbatore had accounted for a large number of disposal of cases through lok adalats conducted under the Alternative Disputes Redressal System.

The modernisation has helped litigant population in accessing judgment copies and case status.

More than individuals, even Governments were increasingly filing litigations and Justice Sathasivam said that Government Departments should have legal experts to decide on whether to go in for a litigation or not. Judges of the Madras High Court, Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and F.M. Ibrahim Kalifullah, Collector V. Palanikumar, Principal District Sessions Judge G. Chockalingam and Chief Judicial Magistrate A.R. Balasubramanian took part in the function.

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