Judicial Institutions Should Provide Justice at Earliest: Kerala CM Vijayan

Kannur: Judicial institutions should be places that provide justice to the common man at the earliest, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday after inaugurating a new court building at the District Court Complex here.

Referring to the age-old phrase -- justice delayed is justice denied -- Vijayan said that the endless delay in cases will cause the common people to lose faith in the judiciary.

He said that around five crore cases were pending in Indian courts and even the Supreme Court has referred to the delay in disposing of cases.

The CM said many factors contribute to the delay in cases and these include the constant requests by lawyers of both the plaintiff and the defendant to postpone matters.

"The shortage of judges is another reason. In this era of modern technology, we need to find ways to reduce the number of cases by making maximum use of its potential," he said.

Vijayan further said that the judiciary was as important as the executive and the legislature as it plays a major role in ensuring checks and balances and therefore, it was essential to strengthen it.

He said that the LDF government in Kerala was working with this vision, as in the last eight-and-a-half years, 105 courts have been set up in the state with the country's first paperless digital court -- which operates 24 hours a day -- being launched in Kollam.

"The full-time court was set up as part of the Supreme Court's e-court policy. Cases can be disposed of there without the parties and lawyers being present in the court," the CM said.

He also referred to the history of the Kannur District Court at Thalassery here, saying that it was established in 1802 and had 14 courts operating in various buildings on a four-acre site.

Vijayan said that the 14 courts were struggling to function due to space constraints and therefore, the government decided to construct the new multi-storey building, at a cost of Rs 57 crore, which will house 10 of the courts.

He said the new building has been built in keeping with the heritage of Thalassery and all the necessary facilities have been set up here to speed up court proceedings in line with the new era.

"There is no doubt that these facilities will strengthen the functioning of the judiciary," he said.

Additionally, a museum, depicting the history of the judicial system, is also part of the building, the CM said. 

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