Chief Justice advocates financial autonomy for judiciary

Chief Justice advocates financial autonomy for judiciary
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

AMRAVATI, MARCH 25: Supreme Court Chief Justice Dr A S Anand on Saturday `disapproved' of the `disinformation' carried out against the judiciary in regard to pending of cases and advocated the need to grant financial autonomy to this wing of democracy, for making it more strong and vibrant in the new millennium.

Inaugurating the two-day lawyers' conference organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa here, he lamented that the total expenditure on thejudiciary in India was only 0.2 per cent of the GDP. Of this, 50 per cent was generated by the judiciary itself by way of court fees, he said. In England, he said, the expenditure on judiciary was 4.3 per cent of GNP unlike India where it was negligible.

Unfortunately, Anand said, no survey had been conducted in the last five decades to determine the needs of the judiciary. "It is high time that this wing of democracy is made more strong and vibrant," he opined.

The Chief Justice came down heavily upon the government for not filling up vacancies in various courts all over the country. As against the total strength of 608 judges in High Courts, there were 150 vacancies, he revealed.

Dr Anand said that in 1998, nearly 15 lakh cases were filed all over the country of which 13 lakh were disposed off despite 25 per cent vacancies in various courts.

In subordinate courts, he said, there were around 3200 judicial officers and yet, more than 1000 posts were lying vacant. Proposals to create 5000 additional posts for subordinate judicial officers were pending before various state governments which have not responded so far.

The Chief Justice regretted the 'disinformation' carried out against the judiciary. In this regard, he referred to a news item based on figures provided the by Union Law Ministry which said that the rate of disposal of cases in the Mumbai High Court was much less than the national average.

"I was pained to read the news in November last year and decided to make inquiries. After studying the figures, it was found that the figures quoted by the ministry were not correct," he said.

Mumbai High Court has an effective strength of 42 judges and there are 18 vacancies. In 1998, as many as 84,881 cases were disposed off as against 99,790 filed in the Mumbai High Court, indicating an average disposal of more than 2000 cases per judge. The figure provided by the ministry was 1363.

The CJI called upon lawyers to decimate disinformation against the judiciary and stressed that there should be healthy and growing partnership between the bar and the bench.

The negligence of the executive towards the judiciary in regard to the backlog of cases is a matter of grave concern for the legal fraternity because it has adverse impact on the credibility of the judicial system, he said.

Anand said the judiciary was duty-bound to mould laws or develop them. Hence, whenever a bad law is struck down by the judiciary it should not be construed as an act of supremacy over the executive. Justifying 'judicial activism', the CJI also disclaimed criticism in certain quarters that never before had the judiciary changed or moulded laws.

However, he opined, judicial activism includes judicial restraint also. "Judiciary, while being active, cannot create rights which cannot be enforced," Anand said. He cautioned the judges against creating disharmony in the social fabric.