By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he favoured a suggestion by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan to open more courts to deal with corruption cases involving government officials.
Inaugurating a conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts, Manmohan Singh said he also agreed with the idea that more judges should be appointed in high courts and trial courts to tackle the huge backlog of cases.
“The chief justice has written to me suggesting that we create special courts to deal with corruption cases. I agree that there is (an) urgent need to do so. This will instil greater confidence in our justice delivery system, at home and abroad,” said the prime minister.
“Apart from pendency and delayed justice, corruption is another challenge we face both in the government and the judiciary,” he said.
Terming the mounting arrears of cases in courts at various levels “a key challenge”, Manmohan Singh said the central government would provide all help to tackle the challenge. He called upon the states to do the same.
Favouring an increase in the number of judges at high courts and trial courts, Manmohan Singh said: “One of the solutions that has been suggested is to increase the number of judicial officers and judges in the high courts and the Supreme Court. There is clearly merit in this.
“The central government has taken steps to increase the number of judges of high courts. Recently 152 new posts of high court judges have been created and an increase in the number of judges in the Supreme Court is also being undertaken,” he added.
“The central government has also drawn the attention of the state governments to the need to urgently increase the strength of judicial officers at district and subordinate levels.
“Some of the state governments do recognise this and have taken measures in this direction. Others would and should also need to do so,” the prime minister said.