Relevance: GS-2: Judiciary, Judicial Review, Judgements & Cases, Directive Principles of State Policy, Government Policies & Interventions.

Key Phrases: Umbrella National Organization, special purpose vehicle, Project Monitoring & Evaluation, Underutilization, Division of Power.

Why in News?

• A recent joint conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers was held after a gap of six years.
• The joint conference is an occasion for the executive and the judiciary to come together to create frameworks for simple and convenient delivery of justice and to discuss steps required to overcome the challenges facing the justice system.
• Chief Justice of Indi (CJI) stated that the 126 vacancies in various High Courts can be filled in less than a year with our collective efforts and wholehearted co-operation and commitment to the institution.
• CJI’s proposal for A National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation with corresponding bodies at the State level did not find favour with many Chief Ministers at the recent joint conference.

National Judicial Infrastructure Authority of India (NJIAI)

• The idea for NJIC was first proposed by CJI Ramana in March 2021, even before he took office.
• NJIAI is thought of as an “umbrella national organization” that would take care of the need for judicial infrastructure.
• It will be a special purpose vehicle solely responsible for developing judicial infrastructure
• According to the proposal, there will be a governing body with CJI as patron-in-chief.
• NJIAI will act as a central body in laying down the roadmap for:
  • Planning,
  • Creation,
  • Development,
  • Maintenance and management of functional infrastructure for the Indian court system.
  • It will also create identical structures under all the High Courts.

Need of NJIAI:

• No central agency: Presently, there is no agency to ensure use of funds allocated to augment judicial infrastructure.
• Infrastructure gap: There is a substantial gap in infrastructure and availability of basic amenities in the lower judiciary.
• Lack of basic amenities: There is a lack of court halls, residential accommodation, and waiting room for litigants in trial courts, especially in smaller towns and rural areas.
• Budgetary lapses: Experience shows that budgetary allocation for state judiciary often lapses since there is no independent body to supervise and execute works.

Reasons For The Poor Judicial Infra in India:

• Low budgetary allocation leading to poor infrastructure:
  • India spends only about 0.09% of its GDP to maintain the judicial infrastructure.
  • Infrastructure status of lower courts of the country is miserably grim due to which they fail to deliver quality judgements.
  • A 2016 report published by the Supreme Court showed that existing infrastructure could accommodate only 15,540 judicial officers against the all-India sanctioned strength of 20,558.
• Lack of planning:
  • Due to lack of planning the infrastructure is overburdened as the future needs are not adequately addressed during the construction itself.
• Complexity of the Financing:
  • The issue of financing judicial infrastructure is a complex task which requires coordination between various departments of the state government including the District Collectorate, the Public Works Department and the Finance Ministry.
  • It also involves coordination between the state government and central government to complete the significant paperwork necessary to get funding under the centrally sponsored scheme.
• Delays and Underutilization:
  • The primary responsibility of infrastructure development for the subordinate judiciary rests with the State Governments.
  • Central Government augments the resources of the State Governments by releasing financial assistance through central schemes
  • Unfortunately, some of the States are not giving their share of money as a contributing share. So no infrastructure schemes are taking off.
• Judiciary’s complete dependence on the Executive:
  • The project design, monitoring and execution of the infrastructure, mainly the building infrastructure remains the sole prerogative of the Public Works Departments (PWD).
  • Due to this many pertinent aspects of cost and space optimization are being compromised.

Advantages of NJIAI:

• Judicial Independence / Financial autonomy: NJIAI makes the judiciary more fiscally independent from the Executive. Therefore, it can address judicial needs quickly.
• Expert Project Monitoring and Evaluation: NJIAI can be the part of the answer to complexities ensuring entrustment of Project Monitoring & Evaluation (PME) function to the experts available across the nation or even beyond.
• Bringing Standardization: NJIAI would bring the uniformity and standardization required to revolutionize judicial infrastructure
• Ensuring sufficient funding for Legal Services Authorities: Most of the State Legal Services Authorities are severely understaffed and are dependent on the grants from National Legal Services Authority and State Law Departments. Overall financial independence of the judiciary alone can ensure the independence of the Legal Services Authorities.
• Reducing Pendency of cases: Strengthening the judicial infrastructure is the most important tool to reduce pendency of cases.

Concerns Regarding NJIAI:

• Tedious Tasks: Infrastructure projects inevitably include tedious processes such as procurement, tendering and auditing of building contracts. And judges cannot be expected to do a better job than other experts.
• Overburdened Judiciary: Judges cannot sit over the drafting of RFPs (Request for Proposal) and tenders, negotiate with state governments for land allotments and conduct site inspections to monitor the progress of building construction.
• Division of Power: Parliament does not have sufficient power to force states to fund the NJIAI.
• Fixing Accountability: Issues are also being raised about fixing the accountability of the funds spent by NJIAI.

Way Forward:

• The best gift we can give to our people and country in this 75th year of independence is to institutionalize the mechanism for augmenting and developing state-of-the-art judicial infrastructure.
• The Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) Scheme would enhance the number of well-equipped Court Halls and Residential Accommodations available to District and Subordinate Court Judges and Judicial Officers across the country.
• The establishment of digital computer rooms would also improve digital capabilities and provide impetus to India's digitization initiative, which is part of the country's Digital India vision.

Sources: India Today

Mains Question:

Recently CJI has emphasized on the need of National Judicial Infrastructure Authority of India. In this context discuss the need for such authority and advantages and concerns related to setting up of such a body? Support your answer with relevant examples and data.