State High Court authorities have been concerned with reforms and streamlining of State judiciary from the first day of his appointment. He has been taking cautious but sustained steps to remove some of the obstacles that hinder quick and inexpensive justice to the supplicants.
In pursuance of this policy a landmark step has been taken by the Full Court meeting headed by Chief Justice, in which 35 ad hoc District and Session Judges across the State have been regularized. Additionally 11 judges have been promoted to next grade. This landmark decision was taken by the Full Court Committee. In the Full Court meeting, a unanimous decision was taken to confirm the ad hoc judges, whose appointment had been made prior to October 27, 2009 when the J&K Higher Judicial Services Rules were framed. The Full Court decided that in respect of judges appointed after the rules were famed their regularization would be considered in accordance with the criteria laid down in the Rules. It is also learnt that High Court has constituted a committee of first four senior most Judges to conduct exercise in this regard.
Obviously, the ad hoc judges will feel happy for the right decision taken by the Full Court. It puts an end to injustice done to them. There are also cases of adhoc judges retiring from service without being confirmed or regularized. The impact of this decision will naturally be very healthy. Removal of anomaly in respect of status and emoluments of confirmed and ad hoc judges has brought them all at par, which will be a step towards doing equitable justice to all. There are other decisions taken by the Full Court that are not insignificant in any way. For example, the Full Court has decided to recommend to the Government for setting up two special courts one each at Srinagar and Jammu to deal with terrorism related cases. It has been noted that a large number of terrorism related cases are pending in different courts of the State and there is little cohesion among the courts. The recommendation made by the Chief Justice along with his argument for creation of two or terrorist courts was sent to the Chief Minister. The process of establishing two courts has been initiated. In the same session other decisions were also taken that are supposed to smoothen the functioning of the existing judicial system.
Thus we find various steps are taken to streamline State’s judicial system. It is in the spheres of filling up vacancies by qualified staff, providing additional manpower and courts, bringing about reforms in procedural matters, monitoring the proceedings in District and Sessions Courts, time-bound disposal of pending cases, providing legal assistance in deserving cases, considering suo moto cases, incentives for efficiency and delivery etc. are among the reformative measures taken so far. These measures are bound to bring about big change in the functionality of the entire judicial system. More importantly, it is not a healthy sign for efficient administration to procrastinate decisions on cases related to terrorism and violence. The State has been infested with terrorism and the security forces are fighting it out with them. But judicial back up is important for containing militancy. As long as insurgents and jihadis believe that they can manage procrastination of their cases in the courts of law and at the end of the day escape scot free, insurgency will not die down its natural death. We welcome the reforms being brought about in our judicial system and we once again hope that justice will not be delayed.
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