Be more generous: Supreme Court Justice Aravind Kumar urges Karnataka to boost funding for courts

Supreme Court Justice Aravind Kumar on Saturday urged the Karnataka government to increase funding for judicial infrastructure, pointing to the substantial savings generated through Lok Adalats.

The judge said that while the government has been supportive, there is a need for greater financial allocation.

"The government has been supportive, but you can be a little more generous,” Justice Kumar said.

Justice Aravind Kumar also said Karnataka ranks number one not only in justice delivery but also in legal aid.

He was speaking at the valedictory function of the 22nd Biennial State Level Conference of the Karnataka State Judicial Officers Association.

Justice Kumar backed his appeal to the government for more funds by showcasing data that highlighted the efficiency of Lok Adalats in reducing case pendency and saving public resources.

He said that in the normal course, courts would have disposed of around 95,000 cases over three months, averaging about 4 to 5 cases per judge per day.

In contrast, the last four National Lok Adalats saw disposal of over 11.09 lakh cases in just four days, which significantly eased the burden on regular courts.

The judge also pointed out that if these cases had been handled through the regular judicial process, it would have taken nearly 2.77 lakh man-working days and would have cost the State around ₹483 crore, including salaries and administrative expenses.

However, the total cost of conducting these Lok Adalats was only about ₹7.94 crore, leading to significant savings.

The judge also noted that Lok Adalats enabled the recovery of ₹345.42 crore in traffic challans.

“Sir (Government) kindly take note of this, for recovering this ₹345 crores, it would have taken eleven and a half years, which our officers did it in four days. So the total savings, both directly and indirectly, are to the tune of  ₹1,022 crores,” the judge said.

Justice Kumar credited this achievement to the efforts of judicial officers across the State.