Supreme Court judge, Justice N.V. Ramana, on Saturday called for the need to establish a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation to drastically improve judicial infrastructure across the country.
Justice Ramana, who has been recommended by incumbent Chief Justice S.A. Bobde as the next Chief Justice of India, said the corporation could bring the much-needed “uniformity and standardisation” which could “revolutionise” judicial infrastructure.
The senior Supreme Court judge, who is scheduled to take over as the 48th CJI, was replying to criticism that money is spent on the infrastructure of higher courts while the subordinate judiciary continues to function from stuffy, ill-lit and dingy courtrooms without basic facilities for litigants, court staffers and judicial officers.
Justice Ramana rues unequal access to justice
“There is a need for the Centre and States to cooperate and create a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation, as a one-time measure, to cater to the need for judicial infrastructure in the country. Such a corporation would bring the uniformity and standardisation required to revolutionise judicial infrastructure,” Justice Ramana said in his address at the inauguration of a new Bombay High Court building in Goa.
The modernisation of judicial “infrastructure does not mean building more courts or filling up vacancies or ploughing through vacancies”, he said. An efficient “judicial infrastructure” means providing equal and free access to justice. This could be realised through a “barrier free and citizen friendly environment”, Justic Ramana said.
“We can assert true accessibility when the person with the maximum disadvantage can still knock on the doors of the court of justice,” Justice Ramana said.
