Parliamentary Committee recommends more funds for court infrastructure in North-East, separate High Court for Nagaland

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has flagged the inadequate infrastructure in court premises in the North-Eastern states and recommended the setting up of a separate High Court for the State of Nagaland..In its 141st report on the topic Judicial Infrastructure in the North-Eastern States of India, the Committee stated,"The status of judicial infrastructure in the North Eastern States can at best be termed as work in progress and a lot of work still needs to be done to meet the requirement at the lower end of the spectrum. It does not augur well for a vibrant and aspirational democracy to have Courts which are functioning from dilapidated rented premises with insufficient space and which lack basic amenities like toilets, water connection, proper electricity supply, etc.".After conducting site visits and interacting with stakeholders in the region, the Committee highlighted the following issues surrounding court infrastructure in the seven sister states: - Severe space crunch is being faced in majority of court rooms. There is shortage of judges chambers, lack of sufficient parking space and lack ofadequate number of toilets. - Lack of robust digital infrastructure and poor network connectivity in remote areas is a major impediment in carrying out court proceedings through virtual mode. - The issue of adequate security of the court premises as well as that of the judicial Officers and lawyers need to be addressed. - Steps need to be taken to ensure adequate water supply, fire safety measures, provisions for lifts and ramps, separate toilets for men/women..Given these issues, the Committee recommended that it is "imperative" to increase the share of North-Eastern states under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Judiciary..Release and utilisation of funds for court infrastructure.The report also sheds light on the release and utilisation of funds for development of infrastructure in these courts. Presently, the funding for court infrastructure in the North-East follows a 90:10 (Centre:State) pattern. It found that no funds were released to Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura during FY 2022-23 due to pending unspent balance. On the other end of the spectrum, ₹50 crore was released to Meghalaya, which utilised all of the funds."The process followed by Meghalaya in terms of compliance of the conditions laid down by the Department of Justice and Ministry of Finance for release of funds, needs to be emulated by others to derive maximum benefit from the Scheme," the report stated..The Committee noted that due to stringent conditions attached for release of funds, most of states are finding it difficult to get their quota of funds. With this in mind, the Committee recommended,"The Committee, however, recommends the Department to approach the MoF to get the guidelines on release of funds under the CSS relaxed, wherever the States are facing genuine difficulties in the implementation of such guidelines."It also said that some states are finding it difficult to contribute even 10% of the funds, leading to delays in completion of projects."It is further recommended that the 10% of the state quota may also be relaxed for the NE States subject to subsequent recovery from the concerned state, so that the ongoing projects are not stalled for want of such meager amount of money," the report said..Moreover, it stated that the treacherous terrain and lack of rail connectivity in the North-Eastern states makes project implementation difficult. The government should take these factors into account while considering fund release, the report suggested..The Committee went on to state that the Kohima Bar Association had submitted a request for the establishment of a separate High Court for the State of Nagaland.In response to this, the report states,"The Committee feels that there is merit in the demand for a separate High Court by State of Nagaland and the Ministry of Law and Justice must coordinate with Ministry of Home Affairs to address the demand.".[Read Report].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.