The issue of piling up of huge pending cases in the courts figured in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday with Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying his Ministry has requested all High Courts to clear 10-year-old cases immediately to bring down pendency of cases as amidst the reports of a cyber attack on the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, Union Minister Jitendra Singh told the concerned members that “if at all an error like this happened, it was confined to the administrative block”.
Among other issues raised during the Zero Hour in the house , Satabdi Roy of the Trinamool Congress said the Ministry of External Affairs has refused to give her a no-objection certificate for attending a film festival in China.
The MP said she had to face a lot of harassment for getting the visa and when it did come she was not given the required NoC without being offered any reason. She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was getting pictures clicked with Chinese President Xi Jinping while she has been denied a visit to China. At this point, the Speaker Om Birla asked another member to raise his issue. BJP MP Shankar Lalwani asked the Centre to work to waive passport requirement for pilgrims visiting Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.
Taking up the issues relating to crores of cases pending in the courts, the law minister said it his for the court to clear the backlog in the court as Government is always there to provide infrastructure.
Congress MP Manish Tewary, however, did not agree with the minister that the Government was not accountable or the piling up of cases in the courts.
The Minister said his Government has taken various measures to improve the infrastructure of various courts across the country so that justice delivery is expedited.
The Modi Government has already given 50 per cent amount for infrastructure improvement, he said, adding, the National Judicial Database is now in place.
Besides, he said, the government has made 478 appointments in high courts and number of Supreme Court Judges has been increased.
On pendency of cases in various courts, he said, all high courts have been requested to immediately clear civil and criminal cases which are pending for 10 years.”I would take this opportunity to again request Chief Justice of all high courts to immediately dispose of cases which are pending for 10 years,” he said.
More than 43 lakh cases are pending in 25 high courts in the country and over 8 lakh of these are over a decade old.
Prasad also said there is a case for All India Judicial Service but there are reservations expressed by some high courts.
On another important issue , Union Minister Jitendra Singh said Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), a public sector undertaking under the Department of Atomic Energy, had recently admitted of a malware attack on one of the computers in the plant but said the plant systems were not affected.
The Minister said “Whatever if at all an error like this happened...It was only confined to the administrative block (of the plant)”.
“The concern of member is very valid...I cannot deny certain admission were made by the Department,” he said while replying to a question on recent cyber attack on the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant.
There is a secured system to tackle cyber attacks and there is a segregation of nuclear generation from the administrative segment, he said. Prasad emphasised the need to create awareness about nuclear power plants and that there is no radiation risk.