Guwahati, Jan 24 : The justice delivery system in Assam and other northeastern States is soon going to get more impetus with the Supreme Court of India's sanction to the video-conferencing facility for the courts in the region.
The SC's nod has come for the first time ever in the country considering the Northeast as a special case that would accelerate the pace of justice delivery.
Also to ensure modernization of the judiciary and smooth judicial process, large-scale computerization of district courts is on the cards. By March 31 this year, all the district courts, apart from the High Court of the region, are likely to be computerized.
Justice MB Lokur, known for his initiatives towards modernizing the lower courts, said this today in the open session of the 12th biennial conference of the All Assam Lawyers' Association (AALA). The three-day event concluded today, with OM Maheswaree, president AALA, presiding over the function.
Speaking as guest of honour, Justice Lokur urged all the stakeholders of the justice delivery system to think positively and contribute towards enhancing the quality of justice.
Emphasizing the need to create good infrastructure for overall improvement of the justice delivery mechanism, Lokur said that the available infrastructure in the district courts of the region needed far greater improvement. To advise on this, and to prepare a blueprint of the revamp, a committee has already been formed.
"We are working out a mechanism to reduce the pendency of cases by bringing down the cases related to petty crimes so that more substantive cases can get priority. In the past six months, the Gauhati High court has succeeded in shedding the high pendency rate to a considerable extent," he mentioned.
RS Mushahary, Governor, Meghalaya, the chief guest of the occasion, also dwelt at length on the ethics and paradoxes related to the legal profession.
"Yours is a profession of paradoxes and self-governance, and thus you have an additional responsibility. Though the legal practice is a quest for truth, there is also a contradiction in the careers of legal practitioners if they go on to defend a convict, who is actually an offender. But also by doing this you are upholding the dignity of justice and giving the convict a chance to get his share of justice," he said.
Mushahary also added that it was unethical on the part of the legal professionals if they unanimously decide not to take a particular case.
Earlier, the welcome speech was given by the president of Lawyers' Association, Guwahati, Pulin Chandra Goswami. A souvenir was also released on the occasion by Sailen Medhi, former working president of the AALA.
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