MP HC Chief Justice Malimath bats for long-term vision to resolve pendency and woes of litigants

Jabalpur, May 20 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice RV Malimath has said lack of infrastructure comes in the way of increasing the number of judges in courts and without a long-term vision, pendency cannot be resolved and litigants will continue to suffer.

He was addressing a gathering here on Sunday after virtually laying the foundation stone of the MP High Court’s infrastructure development in Jabalpur, Indore and Gwalior at a cost of Rs 1,199.75 crore.

“The lack of infrastructure is one of the primary reasons for not increasing the designated judges’ strength. Without a long-term vision, pendency cannot be resolved, and litigants will continue to suffer,” CJ Malimath said.

In future, the strength of judges in the MP High Court will go up to 121, including 60 at the principal seat in Jabalpur and 30 each at the Indore and Gwalior circuit benches, he said.

“We must put the needs of litigants before our own. I urge each one of you to put yourself in the shoes of a litigant, who has been waiting for decades to get justice. The plight of such litigants is unimaginable. It is only when we think from the litigant’s perspective that we can rise above trivialities,” he said.

“It is only when you rise above daily trifles that we can bring out the real change in the justice delivery system. A majority of us from the bar and the bench have been collectively doing it here in MP,” CJ Malimath said.

He said the district court complex in Gwalior took 16 years for completion. The estimated time for the completion was 36 months and the project was sanctioned for Rs 19.72 crore.

After much fast-tracking, the project was completed last month. The cost of the complex upon completion was a little more than Rs 100 crore, he said.

“I hope these buildings do not take the same amount of time to be built. These new structures at Jabalpur, Indore and Gwalior are meant to aid dispensation of justice,” he added.

CJ Malimath said the new complex of the MP State Judicial Academy here would be constructed at a cost of Rs 485.84 crore and the new high court buildings (of circuit bench) in Indore and Gwalior at Rs 307.68 core and Rs 406.23 crore, respectively.

Justice S A Dharmadhikari, administrative judge of the Indore bench of HC, Justice Vivek Rusia, administrative judge of the HC’s Gwalior bench, Justice Vivek Agarwal, in-charge chairman of the MP State Judicial Academy, Jabalpur and other judges of the MP high court were present at the function.