Lead for legal reforms should come from within: Indian PM

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Seeking to take judicial reforms
forward, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday
promised the bar and the bench that the government would "walk
the extra mile" to match each step taken by them if the "lead
comes from within"

"We promise to match each step of the bar and the bench
with two of our own. We will not hesitate to walk the extra
mile at every opportunity," he said while inaugurating a
national convention on 'Law, Justice and the Common Man' here.
The judiciary, the legislature and the executive should
pool their wisdom, knowledge and experience to move forward in
the area of legal reforms, Singh said adding the lead,
however, has to "come from within".
"Legal and judicial reform is not the concern only of
the judiciary or the legislature--it is equally the solemn
responsibility of the executive and indeed of the bar," he
said. The government would not be found wanting in tackling
problems being faced in administration of justice, he said.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who presided over the
convention, voiced concern over pendency of 2.5 crore cases at
various levels of judiciary and said the "milestone
legislation" of Gram Nayayalayas (Village Courts) will ensure
speedy disposal of these cases and give meaningful justice to
common man.
The Prime Minister also struck a similar note saying the
strength of the Indian legal system, which are admired all
over the world, is "somewhat diminished by the arrears and
backlog of cases at every level of our judicial system."
Noting that justice should be "effective and firm",
Gandhi said successive United Progressive Alliance governments
have brought a wealth of "unprecedented" legislative reforms
from RTI, National Rural Employment Gurantee Act to the
Women's Bill being passed in Upper House Rajya Sabha, "which
is now to get the approval of Lok Sabha (Lower House)".
"The government attaches great importance to the legal
empowerment of common men. We believe that democracy would
have little meaning for the common man and woman unless he or
she is able to secure justice through the instrumentality of
law," Singh said.
Noting that Gram Nyayalayas will bring justice at the
doorsteps of common people, Singh asked the states to initiate
immediate action to operationalise the Act.
"Once the Act is fully implemented, we will have more
than 5,000 courts at the intermediate panchayat level. These
will bring justice to the doorstep of the common people," he
said.
Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily made a strong
plea for creation of a national data bank on lawyers belonging
to Congress "so that we can find domain expertise...we can
train them in different fields and ultimately we can also bond
them in the mainstream of judiciary," he said. PTI SPG
KAB


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