“If the money which goes to tribunals goes to courts, courts would become more powerful and effective”, PM Narendra Modi

Chief Justices of 24 High Courts across the country would be returning to their respective States after four hectic days at the National Capital. In their brief yet eventful stay at Delhi, they were privy to two conferences – first, a conference of Chief Justices’ and three Senior Supreme Court judges held on April 3 and April 4 at the Supreme Court of India and the second, a conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers held at Vigyan Bhawan today..The conference of Chief Justices and three senior Supreme Court judges held on April 3 and April 4 had attracted much attention after a Supreme Court judge had objected to the conference being held on Good Friday. The conference had, however, gone ahead as scheduled with a wide variety of issues ranging from pendency of cases and financial autonomy for judiciary to computerisation of courts being discussed..The conference with Chief Ministers, which was held today, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Justice of India HL Dattu (CJI) presided over the function..Speaking on the occasion Prime Minister Modi stressed upon the “divine” role that judges play in securing justice. He also spoke at length about various issues plaguing the judiciary. Aside from widely debated issues like lack of infrastructure, he said that his government was considering another issue – that of development of human resources..“Biggest concern is development of human resources for Judiciary and for law faculty…Our judiciary must not only be powerful but also perfect… If we (Legislature) make an error, there is scope for correction which is you (judges/ judiciary). But if you make an error, there is no scope for correction”, said Modi in his speech which was delivered in Hindi..He also spoke about another pertinent issue – tribunalization and the monetary allocation for tribunals..“I would want the senior judges of the Supreme Court to sit and discuss whether tribunals help in delivering justice or if it creates an additional barrier. Tribunals take up a lot of budgetary allocation. If the money which goes to tribunals goes to courts, courts would become more powerful and effective”, said Modi..Modi also pointed out that deficiencies in drafting of statues was a reasons for pendency..“Drawbacks in drafting is one reason for pendency. Due to lacunae in law, it reaches the courts and its interpretation by courts might take years. As long as our law universities do not produce proper manpower required for drafting laws, the problem will persist. We cannot make laws with zero defects, but we can certainly aim at minimising grey areas.”.CJI Dattu who presided over the function sought for financial autonomy for judiciary while also seeking an introspection of the monetary compensation being offered to sitting judges..“Time has come for financial autonomy for judiciary. Bright legal minds refuse to join the Bench because of poor monetary compensation. If you compare the salaries of sitting judges of India with those of any other democracies or with the salaries which fresh law graduates draw at Indian law firms, the stark difference would be evident”, he said..Justice Dattu also chaired the working session of the Conference with 21 Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of 24 High Courts in which various issues including infrastructure and manpower development for courts, tackling pendency, strengthening legal aid and Alternate Dispute mechanism were discussed. In an interaction with the media later in the day, Justice Dattu said that all efforts would be made to ensure that cases which come to a court is disposed of within 5 years at the trial stage. He also said that a committee has been constituted to look into the feasibility for evolving uniform criteria for selection of judges to higher judiciary.