No Confrontation Between Government & Supreme Court : Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju
On speaking about the recent media reports regarding differences between the government and the supreme court, Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said that in a democracy there were bound to be differences of opinion. But it does not necessarily mean that there were conflicts between the Government of the Supreme Court or the Legislature and the...
On speaking about the recent media reports regarding differences between the government and the supreme court, Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said that in a democracy there were bound to be differences of opinion. But it does not necessarily mean that there were conflicts between the Government of the Supreme Court or the Legislature and the Judiciary.
Some reports appear in media that there are differences between government and the supreme court or legislature and judiciary. We must understand that we are in a democracy. There are bound to be differences regarding outlook which can have a conflicting position from the other side. We have differences, doesn't mean there is confrontation. It sends a wrong message across the world. I want to make it clear that there is no problem between different organs of the state. There are signs of robust democratic actions but not of a crisis.
The Law Minister was speaking at the event to lay the foundation stone for additional court buildings in the District Court campus at Madurai and the Inauguration of the District and Sessions Court and Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Mayiladuthurai. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Supreme Court judge Justice V Ramasubramanian were present at the function.
Rijiju also pointed out that though there was a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, it did not mean that the two should not work together. Pointing to the pendency of cases, Rijiju said that both the executive and the judiciary had to work together as a team and identify challenges to the effective justice mechanism and tackle issues like the pendency of cases.
There may be separation of power, division of work between executive and judiciary but that does not mean that we do not require to work together. In fact we have to work together for the larger goal of interest of the citizens of the country. presently like the department of Justice and the Supreme Court e-committe are working together, in the same manner, the State Government and the High Court office must come together to identify and ensure that great challenges like the pendency of cases are tackled.
While appreciating the technological developments in the judicial system, Rijiju opined that in the near future, the entire Indian Judiciary could go completely paperless. This would allow proper synchronization of the court records so that the judges will not have to postpone the cases for want of evidence, bunching of case filed and other such issues. This would in turn help with the pendency of cases.
Rijiju also pointed out that Judges in India were overburdened with cases. He said that while judges in other countries were handling only a few cases and living a comfortable life, the judges in India were handling 50-60 cases every day. This mental pressure was why sometimes judges were often criticized that they were unable to deliver justice or not in a position to disperse large number of cases, which was not true. Rijiju also mentioned that while disposal rate has only gone up, there has also been an increase in the number of cases coming up, all of which could be tackled only with proper infrastructure.
In India, every judge is handling 50-60 cases every day. If I had to deal with so many cases, the mental pressure will be tremendous. That is why sometimes there is constant criticism that judges are unable to deliver justice, which is not true. In fact, disposal of cases is faster. But the number of cases coming up is also higher. The only way is to have better infrastructure and better mechanisms and strengthen the Indian judiciary.