Vijayawada: It was a historic moment in the timeline of new capital Amaravati on Sunday with the inauguration of Andhra Pradesh transit High Court and laying of the foundation stone for a permanent High Court at Nelapadu.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi inaugurated the transit High Court in the judicial complex at Nelapadu, accompanied by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and several judges of the Supreme Court and other courts.
Speaking on the occasion, Justice Gogoi said that pendency of cases in India was alarmingly high at 3 crores, of which 81 lakh cases were a year old that cannot be treated as pending. He said 50 lakh cases were petty ones and appealed to chief justices of High Courts of all states to dispense with them.
He said around 25 lakh cases were 10 years old, which was not a good sign. He said the long-pending cases are a black spot on the judiciary and should be wiped out as quickly as possible.
Justice Gogoi said the Supreme Court recently took up the issue of 5,000 vacancies in district judiciaries along with provision for courtrooms. He said he was optimistic the vacancies of district and subordinate judges would be filled up soon. He said 75 per cent of the vacancies will be filled up by end of 2019.
There are 400 vacancies among High Court judges, for which the courts are yet to make recommendation for 270 posts while filling up of the remaining 130 posts are in the pipeline.
Justice Gogoi appealed to the high courts to make recommendations, immediately, to fill up the vacancies. He said 100 vacancies will be filled up in the next 2-3 weeks.
The CJI said pendency and lack of judges made the justice dispensation system vulnerable.
Referring to the new High Court building, Justice Gogoi said dispensation of justice had
travelled a long way, not only in terms of progress of ideas but also in respect of physical surroundings.
He said one must not view court buildings in terms of bricks, as it has a great symbolic value. He congratulated all judges and lawyers and people of Andhra Pradesh and officers who have tirelessly contributed for speedy completion of the buildings.
He said he believes dispensation of justice and morality travel together.
Justice Gogoi said members of the Bar have a greater role to play in making the judicial system dynamic.
