Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government, judiciary and the Bar Association should make concerted efforts to deal with mounting arrears in court cases and the growing cost of litigation.
"It is important that concerted cooperative efforts are made by the government, judiciary and the Bar Association to deal with the mounting arrears in our courts and the growing cost of litigation," he said at the national conference on 'Law and Governance' to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Bar Association of India (BAI).
Noting that equality before law would not be a living reality if citizens were not able to access justice at affordable cost, Singh said, "The plight of the large number of undertrial prisoners in our jails should move the machinery of justice to speedy corrective measures as part of the process of reforming and improving the quality of governance in our country."
He expressed the hope that the conference would deal with the practice of law over the years and the interplay of political, social and economic developments, the socio-legal processes that deterred providing access to justice and the necessary legal pre-requisites of good governance.
Pointing out that the judiciary, legislature and executive should not exceed their respective powers as enshrined in the Constitution, Singh said the three organs of the state should work in harmony to maximise public good.
"It is assumed that none of the organs of the state, whether it is the judiciary or the executive or the legislature, would exceed its powers as laid down in the Constitution," he said.
"Even though their jurisdiction may be separated and demarcated, it is expected that all institutions would work in harmony and in tandem to maximise the public good," he said.
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Referring to one of the topics to be debated at the meet, Singh said the doctrine of 'separation of powers' was acknowledged as one of the basic features of the Constitution.
"It is also commonly agreed that all the three organs of the state, namely the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive, are bound by and subject to provisions of the Constitution, which demarcates their respective powers, jurisdictions, responsibilities and relationship with one another," he said.