Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Sunday urged the Central Government to consider certain specific issues concerning Haryana including long standing demand of a separate High Court, equal representation in High Court, creation of a separate division bench and creation of All India Judicial Services.
The Chief Minister, who was addressing a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts in New Delhi, urged the Central Government to bring the necessary legislation to fulfill the long standing demand of the state for the creation of a separate High Court.
He said “As per Article 214 of our Constitution, there shall be a High Court for each State. Haryana Vidhan Sabha has already passed a resolution for creation of a separate High Court for Haryana”.
While reminding of the bifurcation of Civil Secretariat and legislative Assembly between Punjab and Haryana, he said that a separate High Court can easily be created by bifurcating the existing building, staff and infrastructure as was done in the case of Civil Secretariat and legislative Assembly. This is all the more important since the number of cases from Haryana far exceed Punjab, he added.
He also drew attention of the Centre to the issue of equal representation in the High Court. He pointed out that Haryana has less representation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court as compared to Punjab, saying that there is an unwritten norm of having 60 per cent judges from Punjab and 40 per cent judges from Haryana being followed.
“This practice is not only discriminatory in nature, but also has no sanction of law. I request the Chief Justice and the Acting Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC to end this discriminatory tradition and practice”, added Manohar lal.
“The present seat of the Punjab and Haryana High Court is on the opposite end of the State. This leads to loss of valuable time and resources of both the people and the government. I request the Prime Minister to consider setting up of a separate Bench of the High Court near the National Capital Territory. I also request Chief Justice and Acting Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC to support this demand”, said he adding that its acceptance would provide big success to poor litigants from far off region of southern and western Haryana.
The Chief Minister also reiterated State Government’s stand to support the creation of All India Judicial Services on the pattern of All India Services as provided under Article 312(1) of the Constitution of India.
He also suggested that the judicial proceedings in the higher courts should be webcast or telecast live like the proceedings of legislatures and Parliament. He also suggested that efforts should be made to ensure that proceedings of the High Courts are also allowed to be conducted in Hindi or the regional language of the state.
He added that there is a need to decriminalise some petty offences and an alternative system of social service for reform for those who commit such crimes should be put in place.
The Chief Minister also stressed the need for undertaking reforms to make the judicial system less expensive, quicker and more effective.
As per the data available with National Judicial Data Grid, 5,30,301 cases including 2,35,286 civil and 2,95,015 criminal cases are pending in various courts of Haryana. Out of these, 370 (0.07 per cent) cases are more than 10 years old, 5,744 (1.08 per cent) cases are between 5 to 10 years old, 1,11,918 (21.1 per cent) cases are between 2 to 5 years old and 4,12,269 (77.74 per cent) are less than two years old.
He said that we should have a system of normative periods for the disposal of different types of cases and regular review of the progress against these norms. In a way, it will amount to opting the spirit of Right to Service Act in the judicial system, he added.
He said that Haryana Government has earmarked `90 crore to undertake civil works of judicial complexes, creation of additional court rooms and judicial houses in the state during this year, whereas `65 crore were spent last year for the same purpose.
Manohar lal said that State litigation Policy was being revised and the State Government is collaborating with Punjab and UT Administration so that there is a uniform litigation policy for the entire territorial jurisdiction of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
This policy would aim at reducing the potential litigation by and against the Governments inter alia by ensuring replies to all legal notices, more responsive appeal decisions, grant of relief to similarly situated persons without court intervention and effective inter-departmental coordination, added he.
While referring to the Haryana State legal Services Authority, he said that from January 1, 2015 to January 31,2016, as many as 11 permanent lok Adalats and eight monthly lok Adalats were held which settled total of 6,20,207 cases in the state.