CJI blame govt's attitude towards judiciary for pendency of cases

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan today blamed the attitude of the government towards judiciary for huge pendency of cases in lower courts in the country.

The Chief Justice of India was addressing a gathering of lawyers and judges on the occasion of ''Law Day'' in the Supreme Court lawns.

The CJI said the government was giving step-motherly treatment to the judiciary and unless and until strength of judges in the lower courts is increased substantially backlog of about 2.5 crore cases pending in the lower courts in the country cannot be cleared in near future.

The CJI also said there is urgent need of sanctioning about 10,000 new posts in different districts courts for appointing judicial officers.

Justice Balakrishnan also said judiciary alone cannot be blamed for delay in delivering justice to the people of the country so long as it continues to be the last priority of the government.

He also criticised the government for making allocations of less than 1 per cent in the annual budget of the country for judiciary.

The CJI, however, assured the people of the country that judicial fraternity in the country shall continue to strive to uphold the supremacy of the rule of law within its limitations.

He appealed to the government to fill up forthwith, all the vacancies of High Courts and subordinate courts.

The Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj also spoke on the occasion and made it clear that the government was not interested in interfering with the present system of appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges under which the opinion of CJI and the Supreme court collegium is binding on the government.

Mr Bhardwaj also said CJI and the senior judges of the Supreme court know best who should be appointed as judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and executive is not interested in disturbing the present system of appointment.

Regarding the accountability of judges, the Law Minister said judges were accountable to the constitution of the country.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Union Minister of State for Law M R Venkatswamy, Attorney-General of India Milon K Banerjee, SC Bar Association(SCBA) President Praveen H Parekh, SCBA Vice President Indra Sawhney and SCBA Secretary Pareena Swarup.

On 26 November 1949 the constitution of India was framed.

UNI