A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Tuesday said efforts were under way to improve the infrastructure of courts across the country and the issue may come up for discussion in a conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers scheduled in the weekend.
The CJI, speaking for the Bench, said the Supreme Court had already collected statistics and submitted a report on the issue.
The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate M.L. Sharma about the lack of infrastructure and facilities for courts.
“I even went to Hyderabad where I found that courts are functioning in rented buildings,” Mr. Sharma submitted.
The court said since the topic was up for discussion in the conference on Saturday, it did not want to issue notice now.
“Suppose we issue notice, things may get stalled. Let us first see what comes out of the conference on Saturday. We will wait for a week,” the CJI addressed Mr. Sharma and deferred the case by a week.
Mr. Sharma conveyed his hope to see positive results during his lifetime.
“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you. You will live a 100 years, actively practice and serve society,” Chief Justice Ramana told the lawyer.
The CJI has been vocal about his proposal to establish a ‘National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation’ to uniformly improve judicial facilities and improve access to justice.
“There is a need for the Centre and States to cooperate and create a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation, as a one-time measure, to cater to the need for judicial infrastructure in the country. Such a corporation would bring the uniformity and standardisation required to revolutionise judicial infrastructure,” Chief Justice Ramana had said in a public address last year.
He had said that an efficient “judicial infrastructure” actually meant providing equal and free access to justice through a “barrier free and citizen friendly environment.”
In December 2021, a Supreme Court Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had also mooted the idea of an “umbrella national organisation” to take care of the development and funding of judicial infrastructure.
“Why cannot you think of constituting a sort of council on judicial infrastructure? We are least interested in retaining control of the council. The benefit of having a senior judge or Chief Justice on it would be that they are in the know of things. The composition can be of the Union Minister for Law and Justice, the Secretary, Finance, etc. The States can also be represented,” the Bench had told the government side.
The court had even suggested that the Centre should meet with the Finance and Law Secretaries of the States to know the status of disbursement of funds for the judiciary in each State.
