Bharadwaj wants states to adopt ADR to reduce case pendency

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (UNI) Union Law and Justice Minister H R Bharadwaj today urged states to adopt the Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR) mechanism to reduce the huge pendency of 2.50 crore cases in the country.

Inaugurating the Law Ministers' conference here, he said ''status quo cannot continue. ADR methods of conciliation and mediation are adopted the world over to resolve most difficult cases and cheaper too''.

The country could not afford to open more and more courts, he said and urged the states to adopt ADR and provide cost-effective justice to people.

Recalling that Britishers used to go on horseback to render justice to villagers, he mooted ''Gram Nyayalaya'' to ensure justice to the poorest of the poor. ''If we can provide justice to villagers at their doorstep, it will certainly be a great service to them.

They should not be required to travel a long distance for securing justice, especially in petty cases''.

Noting 70 per cent of cases pending in subordinate cases were criminal cases, he wanted petty cases to be transferred to courts of Special Judicial Magistrate and Special Metropolitan Magistrate. He suggested victims and accused be motivated to adopt ''plea-bargaining provisions'' incorporated in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Observing that a large number of vacancies in subordinate courts contributed to pendency of cases, he wanted states to fill them in a timebound manner.

Lauding the efforts of Karnataka in computerisation of courts at different levels, he wanted all states to follow suit.

Taking a serious view of complaints that some banks were employing musclemen to forcibly collect loans advanced to customers, he asserted that ''we will not allow mafia to do such things''.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, in his address, said the Government provided annual grant of Rs 25 lakh to the International Cente for Alternative Disputes Resolution in addition to the corpus grant of Rs 13.5 crore to encourge litigants to settle disputes outside regular courts, which were unable to cope with huge pendency of 10.50 lakh cases in the state.

The State Government had decided to set up family courts in all districts in the state in a phased manner and sanctioned nine family courts during 2006-07.

UNI