M A I N   N E W S

HC short of 14 judges: CJ
From Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, March 25 — The Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr A.B. Saharya, today said that the Punjab and Haryana High Court was facing shortage of judges.

Addressing a function organised here by the district courts in connection with the state level lok adalat, Mr Saharya said that at present strength of judges in the high court was 26 against the sanctioned strength of 40. He added that the Punjab and Haryana High Court was using the services of two retired high court judges for the affairs of permanent lok adalats at Chandigarh.

He pointed out that due to insufficient strength of judges, there was heavy workload in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He added that one more high court judge was due to retire on March 31.

The Chief Justice said that from the next academic session the legal-aid system would be part of the curriculum of universities of Punjab and in the phased manner it would be made an essential part of the curriculum of schools and colleges. He added that Punjab legal services authorities would take up this matter with state education authorities shortly.

He pointed out that lawyers who were not practicising the profession with ethics were bringing stigma to this noble profession. He added that the Punjab and Haryana High Court did not support the strike by the lawyers.

Appreciating the efforts made by the local district judge in making arrangements for organising the state Lok Adalat, Mr Saharya said that 90 per cent of the complaints which the high court was receiving against the judicial officers did not bear the name of complainant while the remaining 10 per cent did not yield any result.

He pointed out that main aim of the lok adalats and the legal service system was to give justice to those who belonged to poor section of the society. He added that Deputy Commissioners of each district of Punjab and Haryana had been advised to start the system of departmental lok adalats so that litigation in the regular courts could be avoided.

He said that Deputy Commissioners had also been asked to enlist those cases which could be decided in the lok adalats from different departments. He added that Punjab Legal Services Authorities had taken up the matter of reduction of rate of interest of agriculture loan cases with the banks so that such cases could also be taken up in the lok adalats.

He pointed out that at present the bank authorities were spending lot of money on litigation to recover loan from the farmers. The system of lok adalats would save money and time for the banks on one hand while on the other hand, it would also bring the loan amount back to them.

He pointed out that to avoid litigation in certain matters including the payment of pensions and reimbursement of medical expenditures by the concerned authorities, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had punished officers concerned for making delay in such payments and in certain cases fine had been deducted from their salaries.

Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, Executive Chairman, Punjab Legal Service Authority, while disclosing that Bathinda was chosen for today’s function for three reasons including the cooperation of local bar, efforts of District Judge, Mr H.S. Bhalla and the state Law Minister hailing from this city, said that Punjab Government had been urged to fulfil the strength of Additional District Attornies (ADAs) in every district for permanent lok adalat and make arrangements for adequate funds for the smooth function of the lok adalats.

He said that at present only six ADAs were working for the lok adalats against the requirement of 17. The Punjab Government had brought down the annual allocation to Rs 44 lakh for the next year from Rs 53 lakh given in the current year to the Punjab legal services authority, he pointed out.

He disclosed that cases relating to the house tax, property tax, agriculture loans, company law disputes would be taken up in the lok adalats apart from Motor Accident claim and matrimonial cases.

He disclosed that at present 3 crore cases were pending in the country while the Punjab and Haryana High Court was dealing with 80,000 cases. He added that litigation had become a long-drawn due process and it should be checked.

The state Law Minister, Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, said that judiciary had saved the country. He added that politicians could do any thing for saving their ‘chairs’ but it was judiciary which prevented things from, deteriorating. He added that even after 53 years of independence of the country, a major section of population was still deprived of the enjoyment of their basic fundamental rights provided by the Constitution.

Mr H.S. Bhalla, District and Sessions Judge, proposed the vote of thanks. Mr Justice N.C. Kitchi was also present on the occasion.

About 300 cases including 110 of MACT and 60 of matrimonial disputes were taken up in nine different lok adalats held here today.