Itanagar: Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said judicial infrastructure, especially in the lower judiciary, must be strengthened to ensure that justice is accessible, swift, and people-friendly.
Attending the inauguration of the newly constructed Gauhati High Court, Itanagar Permanent Bench building here, he said that infrastructure is extremely important, especially in the lower judiciary. Good facilities are needed for judges and litigants, Rijiju said.
“We have to make justice easy for the common people and reduce the distance between people and justice. Justice must be delivered beyond courtrooms,” the Union Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs minister said.
Highlighting the Modi government’s reforms, he said over 1,500 redundant and obsolete laws, framed during the British era, have been deleted because they created unnecessary problems for common people.
“The presence of government in the life of the common people should be reduced to the maximum,” he said, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rijiju noted that over five crore cases are pending across the country and said the Union Cabinet has approved Rs 7,000 crore for e-courts and related infrastructure.
“Since 2021, we have appointed 21 judges for the Gauhati High Court, including three each for its benches in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland. Till 2018, there was no high court judge from Arunachal,” he said.
Rijiju, who represents Arunachal West Parliamentary constituency, urged lawyers in the state to spread legal awareness, given Arunachal’s late start with the formal judicial system and the continuing prevalence of customary laws.
On the Uniform Civil Code, he said, “It is for the entire country but not for the tribal states of the Northeast. We have exempted it here because we do not want to disturb existing tribal laws.”
Calling for more district and session courts and increased manpower in the state, Rijiju said the Arunachal Pradesh government is extending all possible support to strengthen judicial delivery.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, in his address, said the new court complex was “not an ordinary building but a temple of justice”.
“The new court building will be a medium of development aligned with ‘Viksit Bharat’,” Meghwal said, adding that July 1, 2024, marked a historic step when the government replaced outdated British-era laws with the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita to better serve the people.
The event also marked the formal inauguration of the state-of-the-art high court building, which houses five courtrooms and modern facilities, built at a cost of Rs135.35 crore.
