New Delhi: Senior Supreme Court Judge Justice N V Ramana suggested a three-pronged action-plan to reduce the huge backlog of nearly 4 crore pending cases in courts in the country.
Justice Ramana observed that reform of judicial infrastructure through use of e-platforms and setting up of more courts, settling disputes at pre-litigation stage through counselling, strengthening the existing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism would go a long way in clearing the huge pendency of cases in courts.
Justice Ramana, who is presently also the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was speaking at India International Centre (IIC) here last evening after inaugurating the 1st Justice J S Verma Memorial ADR and Client Counselling Competition and 5-day Law Fest , organised by the Department of Law of the Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies (MAIMS) of i P University in association with NALSA.
Favouring Lok Adalats to settle disputes, the Supreme Court judge said that 1.32 lakh cases were settled through mediation using the forum in 2019-20. He batted for making ADR an integral part of the judicial system as litigants are tired of the long drawn judicial process, while ADR provides a greater degree of control to the litigants in settling disputes. "The true function of a lawyer is to unite parties riven asunder," Justice Ramana said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi while lauding the young minds in the legal profession who are bringing a fresh perspective to the system.
Supreme Court Judge Justice A M Khanwilkar said lawyers were an integral part of the justice-delivery system, and emphasized upon an increased use of pre-litigation mediation and arbitration to settle disputes. Paying glowing tributes to Justice J S Verma, former Chief Justice of India, he said that Justice Verma always advocated impeccable behaviour and self-regulation by judicial officers.