Huge backlog of cases in the courts is a major issue and the solution lies in changing laws and strengthening judicial institutions, President Pratibha Patil said in Uttan today.
"One of the major issues confronting the judiciary is the huge backlog of cases... Cases have taken inordinately long time to come to conclusion and litigants have not been able to lead normal life unsure of the verdict in their case," she said.
The President was inaugurating Maharashtra Judicial Academy in Uttan. She said solution should be found for those waiting for justice since long and added, "this could include revising many of our legal codes and laws which are old and outdated as well as strengthening institutional aspects of judiciary."
Addressing the audience which included Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Swatanter Kumar and several High Court judges, she said, "Cost of access to justice has become high and expensive whether it is in terms of court fees or lawyers' fees. This has given rise to worrisome doubt about access to justice especially for the weaker sections of society."
"It should be our bounden duty to ensure that justice was accessible to all," Patil said, adding that options like mobile courts for remote areas, wide network of legal assistance for the poor and predictable schedule of hearings can be useful in tackling the issue. (ST-27/06)
Change laws, strengthen judiciary to clear backlog: Prez
Huge case backlog clogs India's courts By Neeta Lal
DELHI - India's woefully underfunded court system, with its shortfall of judges but excess of corrupt lawyers, is also saddled with a gargantuan backlog of 29.2 million cases pending across hundreds of subordinate state-level courts, 21 high courts and the Supreme Court.
According to figures released recently by the Indian Supreme Court- the country's highest judicial authority- out of this mind-boggling number, over 25.4 million cases are pending in subordinate courts, 3.7 million cases in various high courts while the Supreme Court is stuck with 45,887 cases awaiting justice.
Full article at: Huge backlog clogs India's courts
Points to Ponder
Can the India's Courts ever deliver justice without delay?....the backlog alone will take another 100 years to clear....still there are cases which are alive and kicking after 400 years....Justice and Judgement pending for four centuries!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
IESM: OROP- modified, diluted or jinxed?
Dear Friends,
1. With serious concern, we wish to inform all ESM organisations and ESM that inspite of efforts by all of us, the Government is planning to sanction only modified OROP. This will not be fair to the ESM who have been agitating ever since the 6th CPC recommendations were made public.
2. It is also reliably learnt that IESL Team which was invited by the Cabinet secretary besides AFA and War Disabled Association reps to give presentation on OROP, gave four options diluting the proposal in the descending order. We are at loss to know the reasons for giving such options to the Government. There is only one interpretation of One Rank One Pension as indicated below:
All past pensioners should get the same pension as is given to their rank-to-rank and service-to-service peers that are retiring now.
The date of applicability of revised pensions should be the same as the date of applicability of the VI Pay Commission i.e. 1.1.2006.
OROP should be made into a permanent arrangement so that the pensions of old retirees remain equated with the current retirees all the time to come and this issue does not arise again.
If there are any changes in the Pension Regulations concerning Disability Pension, War Injury pay, Family Pension and the like, the above principle of equity should equally apply to such past pensioners also.
3. IESL Team by diluting the OROP case has harmed the interests of 2.4 million ESM who were waiting for the Justice from the Government. Gen Raj Kadyan had submitted the IESM proposal of grant OROP to the RM and Cabinet Secretary. Though, we met the RM, we were not included in the discussion for the reasons best known to the Cabinet Secretary.
4. We will continue to carry forward our mission of Justice to Defence Personnel till our demands are fully met. We seek you cooperation. All ESM Organisations and ESM must join the IESM and strengthen the Movement. Our plans to commemorate the Kargil Diwas have already been forwarded. Our future course of action to get Justice to the Defence Personnel will be announced shortly.
With Kind Regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement
1. With serious concern, we wish to inform all ESM organisations and ESM that inspite of efforts by all of us, the Government is planning to sanction only modified OROP. This will not be fair to the ESM who have been agitating ever since the 6th CPC recommendations were made public.
2. It is also reliably learnt that IESL Team which was invited by the Cabinet secretary besides AFA and War Disabled Association reps to give presentation on OROP, gave four options diluting the proposal in the descending order. We are at loss to know the reasons for giving such options to the Government. There is only one interpretation of One Rank One Pension as indicated below:
3. IESL Team by diluting the OROP case has harmed the interests of 2.4 million ESM who were waiting for the Justice from the Government. Gen Raj Kadyan had submitted the IESM proposal of grant OROP to the RM and Cabinet Secretary. Though, we met the RM, we were not included in the discussion for the reasons best known to the Cabinet Secretary.
4. We will continue to carry forward our mission of Justice to Defence Personnel till our demands are fully met. We seek you cooperation. All ESM Organisations and ESM must join the IESM and strengthen the Movement. Our plans to commemorate the Kargil Diwas have already been forwarded. Our future course of action to get Justice to the Defence Personnel will be announced shortly.
With Kind Regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement
PM meets Secys over OROP for armed forces
Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi, June 25: Moving closer on implementing the long-standing demand for one rank-one pension (OROP) for armed forces, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday chaired a meeting of Committee of Secretaries who made presentation to him.
The meeting was also attended by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Defence Minister AK Antony and Union Minister Ashok Chavan. Earlier, the UPA government had promised to resolve the contentious matter by this month-end.
In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha Patil had said that the committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar had "already commenced its work and expects to complete it by the end of June 2009''.
Just before the crucial fourth phase of polling on May 7, the Defence Ministry had declared that a high-level committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary had been constituted to "reduce the gap in the pensionary benefits to officers and jawans, bringing it as close to OROP as possible''.
But slapped with a notice from the Election Commission for violating the model code of conduct, the government had swiftly backtracked and denied that the government has constituted any special committee for the purpose.
The grouse of ex-servicemen is that all political parties have used OROP to garner votes but have never implemented it after coming to office. The government had obviously announced the setting up of the committee to counter the BJP's strong 'Jai Jawan' tune in its manifesto.
The defence community of 14 lakh serving and 23 lakh retired military personnel, after all, swells into a sizable votebank of around 1.5 crore people if family members are taken into account.
The UPA government, however, is promising only a partial implementation of OROP at best, with the Defence Ministry itself acknowledging that full implementation is simply not feasible "administratively".
The Defence Ministry, however, admits that a case does exist for bringing the quantum of pension of pre-January 1996/October 1997 pensioners at par with post-January 1996/October 1997 and pre-January 2006 ones because the gap between the pensions of past and present retirees has considerably widened after the 6th Pay Commission.
This will entail an additional financial burden of only around Rs 500-600 crore annually, with the government keen to reduce the present four categories of pensioners to only two broad ones of pre and post January 2006 retirees.
"Full OROP implementation, in turn, could mean an annual outgo of around Rs 1,200-1,300 crore, apart from payment of arrears in the range of Rs 4,000 crore," said an official.
PM meets Secys over OROP for armed forces
New Delhi, June 25: Moving closer on implementing the long-standing demand for one rank-one pension (OROP) for armed forces, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday chaired a meeting of Committee of Secretaries who made presentation to him.
The meeting was also attended by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Defence Minister AK Antony and Union Minister Ashok Chavan. Earlier, the UPA government had promised to resolve the contentious matter by this month-end.
In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha Patil had said that the committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar had "already commenced its work and expects to complete it by the end of June 2009''.
Just before the crucial fourth phase of polling on May 7, the Defence Ministry had declared that a high-level committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary had been constituted to "reduce the gap in the pensionary benefits to officers and jawans, bringing it as close to OROP as possible''.
But slapped with a notice from the Election Commission for violating the model code of conduct, the government had swiftly backtracked and denied that the government has constituted any special committee for the purpose.
The grouse of ex-servicemen is that all political parties have used OROP to garner votes but have never implemented it after coming to office. The government had obviously announced the setting up of the committee to counter the BJP's strong 'Jai Jawan' tune in its manifesto.
The defence community of 14 lakh serving and 23 lakh retired military personnel, after all, swells into a sizable votebank of around 1.5 crore people if family members are taken into account.
The UPA government, however, is promising only a partial implementation of OROP at best, with the Defence Ministry itself acknowledging that full implementation is simply not feasible "administratively".
The Defence Ministry, however, admits that a case does exist for bringing the quantum of pension of pre-January 1996/October 1997 pensioners at par with post-January 1996/October 1997 and pre-January 2006 ones because the gap between the pensions of past and present retirees has considerably widened after the 6th Pay Commission.
This will entail an additional financial burden of only around Rs 500-600 crore annually, with the government keen to reduce the present four categories of pensioners to only two broad ones of pre and post January 2006 retirees.
"Full OROP implementation, in turn, could mean an annual outgo of around Rs 1,200-1,300 crore, apart from payment of arrears in the range of Rs 4,000 crore," said an official.
PM meets Secys over OROP for armed forces
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