Economic, geographic factors hamper judicial outreach: SC judge

Agartala, March 18: Economic and geographical factors sometimes prevent timely judicial outreach to the people, a Supreme Court judge said on Saturday. “Because of lack of economic solvency, geographical isolation and remoteness, sometimes justice might not reach out to the people timely,” Justice Ranjan Gogoi said after laying the foundation stone for an administrative building of the Tripura High Court. “The bar association, along with the courts and administrative staff, have equal responsibility to settle the cases early and timely and to provide justice to the people.” “When the Tripura High Court was set up in March 2013, the number of pending cases was 6,619 and currently it is reduced to 2,283,” he said, adding that despite filling the vacancies on the bench, the ratio of pending cases remained the same. At the same time, Justice Gogoi said that Tripura High Court, unlike its counterparts in other states, had largely reduced the pendency of cases.
“Tripura also settled thousands of cases through Lok Adalats. The disposal rate of cases through Lok Adalats is very significant,” he noted. Tripura High Court Chief Justice T. Vaiphei said he has directed all judges and judicial officers in Tripura to deal with witnesses in a friendly manner. “I have taken steps to provide early compensation to road accident victims. Road accident-related matters must be dealt with at least twice a week,” Justice Vaiphei said. He also stressed the need for early disposal of cases relating to children, women and aged people, besides cases concerning marriages and domestic issues. He noted in this context that the new administrative building would help in providing adequate separate space to the women judicial officers. Tripura Law and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said that the state government was keen to deliver social justice to the people and to reach out to people in the remote and hilly areas despite limited resources. (IANS)