DEPARTMENT RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE
ON PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICE

INVITES SUGGESTIONS FROM PUBLIC ON

JUDICIAL REFORMS

          The Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice under the Chairmanship of Dr. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, M.P. Rajya Sabha, has been referred the subject “Judicial Reforms” for detailed examination and report.

2.       Considering that the scope and extent of the subject is very wide and also of much public importance, the Committee has decided to confine its consideration of the subject, initially, to the following topics:-

*   Financial autonomy and accountability of judiciary;

*   Expenditure assessment of the Judiciary;

*   Allocation of funds to the Judiciary; and

*   Evolving a mechanism for projection of its plan fund, taking into consideration the various parameters of fiscal discipline.

*        A detailed questionnaire on the subject covering the above mentioned topics is also available on the website of Rajya Sabha  (http://rajyasabha.nic.in).

3.                 Accordingly, the Committee has decided to invite memoranda containing suggestions/views/comments of individuals/institutions/ organizations interested in the above topics.

4.                 Those desirous of submitting memoranda to the Committee may send two copies of their written memoranda (either in English or Hindi) on each of the above subjects to Smt. Sasilekha Nair, Under Secretary, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 528A, Fifth Floor, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi-110001 (Tel: 23035308, Fax: 23016784 and
E-mail: rs_cpers@sansad.nic.in) within thirty days of publication of this advertisement.

5.                 The memoranda which are submitted to the Committee would form part of the records of the Committee and would be treated as confidential and would not be circulated to anyone, as such an act would constitute a breach of privilege of the Committee.

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JUDICIAL REFORMS

A QUESTIONNAIRE

 

1.                 Our Judicial System lacks financial autonomy and has no control over the funds and plays no role in preparation/estimation of budget for itself. What steps you would suggest to have financial autonomy for itself so that lack of funds do not hamper the administration of justice?

2.                  As of today, the expenditure incurred by the judiciary is allocated to it under the head “non-plan expenditure” by the Government of India. There has, so far, been no attempt on the part of the judiciary to formulate its own “plan expenditure”. It is suggested that if the judiciary is able to estimate its own requirement of funds under various heads in a planned manner, problems of overburdened courts, lack of trained manpower, infrastructural facilities etc. would be countered. What are your comments in this regard?

3.                  For the judicial system to work independently  and efficiently establishment, maintenance and proper management of courts is required. This requires future planning, target setting and proper allocation of resources by the institution itself. This includes the future planning of the expected expenditure also. Would it not be reasonable that the judiciary makes its own assessment of the existing and future expenditure so that set targets and allocation of resources within the courts is achieved. This would prove to be helpful in reducing the pendency of work in the courts. What are your comments in this regard?

4.                  In Our Judicial System it is the District/Subordinate Judiciary that suffers   most due to lack of resources/funds. It is the subordinate judiciary that requires a lot of infrastructure, trained judicial officers/manpower, proper scheduling of workload and other facilities. The expenditure for the subordinate judiciary has been solely left to the States and the subordinate judiciary plays no role in formulating/estimating its own budget/expenditure. Would it not be reasonable that a mechanism is evolved so that the subordinate judiciary itself could assess its own expenditure requirements to overcome the problems arising solely on account of lack of resources/funds? You may like to offer your comments in this regard.

5.                  Judiciary also requires funds for other heads viz funds for various legal schemes/programmes designed to give legal aid/assistance to the people. Is there any mechanism evolved by the judiciary that the funds sought for particular schemes/programmes are utilized strictly for the same and that they actually filtered to the intended beneficiary?

6.                  The judiciary is entrusted with the task of implementing various Acts such as the National Legal Authority Act. The expenditure incurred for implementing such Acts is invariably found to be insufficient. What steps you will suggest to assess sufficient funds for implementing such Acts or alternatively, how much funds, you think, should be allocated for the same to counter insufficiency of funds?

7.                 In the recent past, the judicial system has seen various private arbitration, conciliation and mediation centres. Whether it is necessary to have a regulatory authority for such type of centres. Whether it is necessary to accredit such institutions so that judicial excellence is brought up in such centres also and whether they are to be helped financially to meet the required standards?

8.       Public perception about the performance of Judiciary and its agencies has been a matter of concern. Please explain methods evolved or mechanism conceived for ensuring integrity, efficiency and accountability of the judiciary.

9.       It has often been said that there has not been an effective planning and proper budgeting of the courts and due to these reasons, Indian courts are overburdened with huge accumulation of cases. Please elaborate the system of administration of Justice in India in the light of these observations.

10.     Kindly comment on the salaries and other facilities or perquisites of the judiciary. Is the present structure of salaries or perquisites sufficient or a need is felt to have an Independent Body for fixing salaries like the Top Salaries Review Board in U.K. or Australia where Judges draw higher salaries.

11.     It is understood that American Judiciary enjoys functional as well as financial autonomy and that system is, therefore, considered to be the best in the world. Do you concur with the view that if Indian Judiciary is to maintain the same standard, it should have control over planning of courts, funds, etc. Not only this, Judiciary should also participate in deciding ways for achieving the targets and in preparation of budget for Judiciary. Kindly elaborate.