Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called upon the judiciary and executive to work together to make the Indian judicial system arrear-free and stressed the need of urgently filling the large number of vacancies in the High Courts and subordinate courts to accomplish this task.
Speaking at the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices here, Dr Singh said the elimination of vast number of pending cases in the Indian courts is the biggest challenge before the judiciary.
The Prime Minister wanted the Supreme Court to play a vital role in ‘this war of arrears.’ The apex court has to ‘be a catalyst, an organiser, a mentor, an umpire, a participant, and, above all, a role model, all at the same time, ‘ he said and assured of all cooperation from the government.
‘We promise to match each step of the judiciary with two of our own. We will not hesitate to walk the extra mile at every opportunity,’ he added.
Dr Singh said the people’s faith has been reposed in the judicial organ in a very large measure, and the legal system was manned by legal luminaries second to none in the world.
Pointing to the innovative legal doctrines and precepts evolved by the judiciary like the ‘basic structure doctrine’ and ‘public interest litigation’, he said these had showed new paths to jurisprudence.
‘Judicial review has breached unprecedented frontiers. Yet, amidst such strengths, brilliance and dynamism, India has to suffer the scourge of the world’s largest backlog of cases and timelines which generate surprise globally and concern at home. The expeditious elimination of this scourge is the biggest challenge for such conferences and should constitute the highest priority for all of us,’ said Dr Singh.
