Harish Gupta. New Delhi
Struggling to bring down the whopping over 3 crore pending court cases in the country, Union Law Minister is embarking on a Mission Impossible.
Come July 1 and he is determined to bring down the figure by one crore within six months. "The new policy is expected to reduce average pending time of cases from 15 years to 3 years and reduce number of cases by one crores within six months, " Moily said while talking to the DNA.
He said that the process of digitization of courts in the country was on a fast-track and this itself will bring down the number of cases. The government would set up commercial divisions in High Courts to settle high value litigation. This move received a setback in July when a parliamentary select committee recommended several changes in the proposed Bill, including reducing the threshold limit from Rs five crore to one crore. However, these issues have been cleared and the Bill will be brought before the Parliament in the Monsoon session.
Moily was unruffled by reports of impending Cabinet reshuffle and said, “ I am doing my job. I do not talk. I work quietly and you will see the result of these silent works by December 2011.”
He said that the Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, 2009 was passed in the Lok Sabha without discussion. But when the Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha, it was referred to a select committee in December last year for further examination.
A provision of a grant of Rs. 5,000 crore had been cleared by the 13th Finance Commission relating to the method and technology, and an additional provision of Rs. 935 crore for the E-Courts (computerization of courts) which will include the Paperless Courts and the Technological Courts.
