Ravi Shankar Prasad presents Law Ministry’s 3-year Report Card

Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad today held a press conference in Delhi’s Jaisalmer House to highlight the achievements and initiatives of his ministry in the past 3 years..Prasad, who also holds the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology cabinet, began by promoting the Digital India Campaign and stated that the digital platform has been effectively used by the Ministry of Law and Justice to increase access to the judicial system..The Law Minister enlisted the following achievements of his ministry:.Appointment of Judges – 17 SC and 249 HC Judges have been appointed in the past three years. 224 Additional Judges have been made permanent. 173 additional posts of Judges have been created in the High Courts. Multiple benches of commercial courts have been set up in various states..Infrastructure– 2249.73 Crores have been released since 2014 for the development of infrastructure facilities for the Subordinate Judiciary. Availability of court halls as well as residential units for judges have increased manifold. Sanctioned strength of judicial officers of Subordinate Courts has been increased by 2770..Digitisation– Initiative to the make the Supreme Court paperless has been taken. 568 Crores have been released for computerization of courts and 251 Crores have been allotted towards eCourts project. eCourts portal records highest number of transactions and extensively used by the public. SMS delivery to lawyers, litigants and judges was started in 2014. Video Conferencing facilities have been operationalised between 500 courts and corresponding prisons. National Judicial Data Grid was opened for public access which hosts 7 Crore pending and disposed off cases and 4 Crore Orders/ Judgments..Legal Aid– Database of lawyers willing to provide their services free of charge is being created. More than 100 lawyers have signed up in less than 2 months. District Facilitation Centers to reduce pendency of 10 year old cases have been set up which is headed by a retired judicial/ executive officer. Average number of Lok Adalats increased by 47000..Special Drive to reduce pendency– Chief Justices of High Courts have been requested for setting up of Fast Track Courts for concluding trial in rape cases. Chief Ministers have been requested to provide requisite financial support. Arrears Committees have been constituted in all High Courts. Justice Clocks proposed to be set up in court premises to show top performing district courts..International Cooperation– MOU signed with Bangladesh Supreme Court on training of 1500 Judicial Officers of Bangladesh at National Judicial Academy, Bhopal. MOU signed by the Election Commission with foreign countries for the purpose of promotion of cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration..Arbitration– High level committee to review institutionalization of arbitration mechanism under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) BN Srikrishna has been set up to make India a hub of international arbitration. Provisions have been made for simplification of procedures fixing time limit and minimum intervention by courts..Draft National Litigation Policy– It endeavors to take preventive measures for reducing new filing of cases and making government a responsible and efficient litigant..Implementation of Law Commission Reports– 176th Report relating to Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 226th Report relating to Acid Attacks and 248th,249th,250th,251st Reports relating to repealing and amending of obsolete laws have been implemented. So far 1200 Acts have been repealed..Image taken from here.