Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Thursday suggested to Telangana High Court and Justice department to make better use of information technology-enabled services.
Addressing the gathering after inaugurating 32 new judicial districts co-terminus with newly created 32 revenue districts in the State, the Supreme Court CJI said more efforts should be made for increased usage of IT services by the judiciary in the State. He said the State’s capital of Hyderabad was becoming an internationally acclaimed hub for IT services.
The CJI, however, said the Justice department and the HC were yet to fully utilise the IT enabled services. After creation of mandals by the late NTR during his stint as Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, creation of 32 new judicial districts was another historic administrative milestone of decentralisation.
The large number of pending cases in the erstwhile 10 judicial districts of the State would be distributed among the newly created 32 judicial districts. This would bring down the pendency of cases. For example, the RR judicial district initially had 1,81,275 pending cases.
With the newly created Medchal Malkajgiri and Vikarabad judicial districts being allocated 77,000 and 18,000 cases respectively, the RR judicial district would have around 85,000 cases now, he said. He thanked Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao for readily agreeing to creating 194 new posts for the new judicial districts.
Emphasising the need for better infrastructure for the judiciary, the CJI N.V. Ramana said he was disappointed over the proposed Judicial Infrastructure Development Authority not becoming a reality. During a conference of Chief Ministers of all States and Chief Justices of all High Courts held this April, the CJI mooted such an authority. A resolution to this extent was passed.
But due to small issues of lack of understanding, the proposal did not material and as a result some States lost a golden opportunity of developing better infrastructure for the judiciary, he said. In the backdrop of Hyderabad witnessing rapid progress in business and trade, the possibility of commercial disputes would also rise.
“But there are only three commercial courts, two in Hyderabad and one in Rangareddy, in the capital,” the CJI said. There was need to increase number of such courts, he added.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao appealed to the HC Chief Justice to examine the possibility of division of city civil courts and Rangareddy courts to bring down pendency of cases and faster disposal of cases. He said the government was ready to provide all facilities if the HC sent proposals in this regard.
Telangana HC Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Law Minister Indrakaran Reddy and judges of the HC were present.
The CJI said that he wanted to tell some “friends not having adequate understanding of judiciary that judiciary is not meant for protection of selfish interests of some individuals”. Of late, it had become easier to malign individuals in top positions.
Some individuals who could not achieve their selfish interests through the system were giving wrong interpretations to court verdicts and government orders. Number of people securing sadistic pleasure by making such interpretations was also on the rise. This was unfortunate, he said.
“Until limits are not crossed, all are friends to judiciary. It is against constitutional spirit to spare persons crossing such limits. Better such persons understand this,” the CJI remarked.
