By IANS,
Kolkata : Underlining that the country’s judicial system has been lagging behind in fully meeting the aspirations of the people, President Pranab Mukherjee Sunday called for delivering quick justice, and said law-breakers should be dealt with “swiftly and effectively”.
“One area in which it (the judiciary) has lagged behind is not being able to fully meet the aspirations of the people and provide quick, speedy and accessible justice to those who knock at its doors. Much has been done but that is not enough,” Mukherjee said while addressing the sesquicentennial celebrations of the Calcutta High Court.
“Our courts need to be urgently strengthened and additional resources ought to be provided,” the president said.
Against the backdrop of growing public outrages against crimes against women, Mukherjee said that for a country of a large population, judicial institutions had the tasks of delivering timely, affordable and quality justice to all of its citizens.
Describing the judiciary as an important pillar of democracy, he said it should be keen to reinvent itself through process of introspection and self-correction.
Emphasising that law-breakers should be dealt with “swiftly and effectively”, he said it was necessary for maintaining “social balance”. “The judiciary has to ensure that those who are on the wrong side of the law are dealt with swiftly and effectively to maintain social balance.”
The president, however, was hopeful that after the full implementation of the e-Court Mission Mode Project (MMP), courts would be in a position to deliver justice much faster.
“The government in partnership with the judiciary is undertaking a number of initiatives for speedy delivery of justice. Under the e-Court Mission Mode Project (MMP), 11,000 districts and subordinate courts have been computerised. The government’s target is 14,000 ICT-enabled courts by March 2014,” he said.
After the project is completed, the courts would be in a position to provide electronically more than 40 services to litigants and other stakeholders, he said.
“As a result, courts will be in a position to dispense justice faster and quicker,” he added.