Increasing the number of judges alone would not help in speedy disposal of cases. This needs to be followed up by toning up infrastructure and modernising courts, Madan B. Lokur, Judge, Supreme Court of India, has said.

Apart from more judges, we require, land, new courts, modernisation of the existing courts, staff to help judges, resources etc., he said while addressing a seminar on “Technology to Enable Accessible and Speedy Justice”, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Thomson Reuters here on Saturday.

Justice Lokur lamented that the judiciary was allocated only 0.4 per cent of the Budgetary outlay, which was insufficient at a time when the “the total number of courts in the country is going to be increased from 14,000 as of now to 18,847.”

Adopt technology

He said technology could go a long way in speeding up the delivery of justice, such as the adoption of video-conferencing among the judges, particularly among those in different courts.

“In some courts, review petitions are pending for years since the same bench was unable to sit again due to various reasons. In such situations, video conferencing can cut such delays,” he added.

Also, photos or audio recordings taken by anybody of a corrupt act could be considered as evidence, Justice Lokur suggested.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), he said, had developed a software linking all criminal courts, prisons, police stations etc.

This system, when adopted, would help courts to decide on granting bail to under-trials without them being present in the courts.

Fali S. Nariman, Senior Advocate, said “We need judges, jurists and lawyers who can inspire the common man and to help him in his pursuit of happiness. That can come by investing in our young lawyers who are exposed to newer ideas and technologies.”

He said the legal system should not become an oppressor, and favoured using retired judges for clearing the backlog of cases.

> aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

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