The Government today approved the proposal of Ministry of Law and
Justice to operationalize the National Mission for
Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms to realize and implement the objectives set out
in the Vision Document adopted at the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief
Justices on 24 – 25 October, 2009.
Earlier, on 3rd December, 2009, the Government had approved ‘in principle’ the proposal of
this Department to set up a National Mission with directions that specific
approvals from competent authority will be sought on different components of
the Mission after completing prescribed consultation procedures.
Objectives
of the National Mission
The National Mission will focus on
improvement in administration of justice and justice delivery and legal reforms
in the entire country and it has to address diverse needs of all sections of
stakeholders in a Mission Mode approach.
The Mission spanning 5 years from 2011-2016 would focus on two major
goals as envisaged in the vision document, namely :
(i)
increasing
access by reducing delays and arrears in the system, and
(ii)
enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance
standards and capacities.
The
salient features of the National Mission are:-
(1)
The
National Mission would comprise of Advisory Council, Governing Council,
National Mission Leader and the Mission Directorate.
(2)
The
Advisory council will advise on the goals, objectives and strategies of the
National Mission and the Action Plan and its implementation and performance of
the Mission in meeting its objectives and would be chaired by the Minister for
Law and Justice and would have membership from Parliament, State Governments,
Jurists & senior officers of Government of India.
(3)
The
Governing Council would facilitate implementation, give policy directions and
oversee the work of the Mission and would be headed by the Minister for Law and
Justice.
(4)
The
Secretary, Department of Justice would be the National Mission Leader.
(5)
A
Mission Directorate would be constituted to implement and monitor the various
initiative / programme of the National Mission.
It would be headed by an officer of the rank of the Joint Secretary who
would act as the Mission Director.
(6)
An
Action Plan has been drawn up which would of course be subjected to change once
the Governing Council meets to set out the agenda. The tentative Action Plan for five strategic initiatives are:-
(i)
Policy and Legislative changes such as All India Judicial Service, Litigation Policy,
Judicial Impact Assessment, Amendment in N.I. Act and Arbitration &
Conciliation Act, Legal Education Reforms etc.
(ii)
Re-engineering procedures and alternate methods of
Dispute Resolution
such as identification of bottlenecks, procedural changes in court processes,
statutory amendments to reduce and disincentivize
delays, Fast tracking of procedures, appointment of
court managers and Alternate Dispute Resolution.
(iii)
Focus on Human Resource Development such as filling up of vacancy positions in all courts of
judges and court staff, strengthening State Judicial Academies, Training of
Public Prosecutors and ICT enablement of public prosecutors offices,
strengthening National Judicial Academy and Training of mediators.
(iv)
Leveraging ICT for better justice delivery such as implementation of Ecourts
project, integration of ICT in the judiciary and use in criminal justice
delivery and creation of National Arrears Grid.
(v)
Improving Infrastructure such as improving physical infrastructure of the
District and subordinate courts and creation of special / additional courts
like Morning / Evening Courts, Family Courts and Gram Nyayalayas.
There are certain initiatives listed above which are
ongoing would be further strengthened and new initiatives would be undertaken
as indicated in the action plan which may be revised / enhanced by the Governing
Council.
(7)
Infrastructure
development for the subordinate judiciary is the major thrust area of the
National Mission. Inadequacy of
infrastructure facilities in District and Subordinate courts has remained a
major bottleneck in the judicial system largely contributing to the
accumulation of arrears. In order to
augment the resources of the State Governments for development of
infrastructure facilities for the judiciary a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)
has remained in operation since 1993-94 at 50:50 basis. A preliminary assessment of requirement of
infrastructure for subordinate courts from the States revealed that around Rs.
7000 crore would be needed over five years for
construction/maintenance etc. The Central Government outflow would be around Rs.
5500 crore over five years.
(8)
During
Regional Consultations held at Guwahati, Chennai,
Kolkata, New Delhi and Goa during June-August 2010, a number of States raised
the demand for change in funding pattern from 50:50 to 75:25 and enhancement in
the amount of Central grant. In a
Mission Mode programme a higher allocation by Central Government would
incentivise the States and hence, the Department of Justice propose the Central
contribution be raised to 75% of the allocations and sharing pattern between Centre
and the States should be changed to 75:25 for the States other than
North-Eastern States which already have approved funding pattern of 90:10. Cabinet today also approved the funding of
infrastructure development of subordinate courts in the ratio of Central /
State assistance will be 75:25 instead of the present 50:50. In case of North-Eastern State, the ratio
will be 90:10 as already agreed to in the CSS Scheme by the Planning
Commission. This modified scheme will be
implemented under the National Mission.
MC/ls