No government wants strong judiciary: SC

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) "No government wants strongjudiciary," was how the Supreme Court today expressed itsexasperation over the low budgetary allocation to thejudiciary.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said lessthan one per cent of the budget is alloted to the judiciarywhich is facing a huge infrastructural problem and shortage ofmanpower.

"No government wants strong judiciary. It is only on thepaper. Look at the budgetary allocation. It is less than oneper cent," the bench remarked while pointing out that thejudiciary is overloaded and a large number of courts need tobe set up across the country for speedy justice delivery.

Pointing out the infrastructural problem and growingvacancies in the judiciary, the court said "it is a very verydifficult situation. If by chance the government does it(setting up more courts), then we have difficulty in gettingcompetent people."

The court''s remarks came while hearing a petition filedby former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on phone-tappingcase. It expressed its displeasure over the tardy of progressin the trial of the case.