Indian judicial system independent, fair: Justice Jain

Amritsar, Mar 21 (UNI) Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijender Jain today maintained that the Indian judicial system was the most independent and fair in the world, devoid of political interference.

Talking to mediapersons after awarding degrees to students on the 102nd Annual Convocation of the Khalsa College here, Justice Jain said the judicial system was the strongest pillar of the country's democracy.

The political parties in Punjab were not interfering and can not do so with the working of the judiciary, he said.

He any one or any party was free to file any case at any point of time but the judiciary gives the decisions solely on the basis of witnesses and evidences.

On the pendency of court cases in Punjab, Justice Jain said nearly 6 lakh cases were pending in various courts of the state and there were 280 judicial officers to cater to these.

The Supreme Court was fully abrest of the situation and to deliver speedy and cost effective justice, the apex court has already issued directions for initiating a permanent recruitment policy for judicial officers, he said.

The Chief Justice said as per this policy new judicial posts and supporting infrastructure was to be provided by the state governments.

Lauding the role of the Punjab government, Justice Jain said it has given Rs 35 crore for recruitment and infrastructure improvement and another Rs 10 crore were provided by the Centre.

In Punjab, 37 Judicial Officers were recruited last year and 49 more have been recruited in the current month. These officials were being trained at the Judicial Academy and as soon as they were absorbed in the mechanism, the results would be seen and felt by all, he added.

The Chief Justice said he directed all the courts of Punjab and Haryana to settle the criminal cases pending for the past ten years or more within a year and all the cases pending of five years were to be settled in the coming two years.

He also informed that Haryana had already cleared the pendency of 10 years old criminal cases and hoped that Punjab would also clear the backlog by August this year.

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