Union Budget 2011: Law Ministry gets more funds for rural courts

NEW DELHI: With government planning a major push to modernise subordinate judiciary and have more rural courts, the 2011-12 budgetary allocations for the Law Ministry would see a jump of nearly Rs 500 crore from last year.

The total allocation for 2011-12, announced in the General Budget on Monday, is Rs 1432.30 crore, which is Rs 488.30 crore more than last fiscal's Rs 944 crore.

For computerisation of district and subordinate courts, the outlay has been increased from Rs 108 crore to Rs 267 crore.

On similar lines, allocation for infrastructural facilities for judiciary saw a quantum leap from Rs 95 crore to Rs 427.90 crore.

The hiked allocation comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court lamenting the poor infrastructure facilities in lower courts, which are saddled with three crore cases.

The central assistance to states for setting up rural courts or gram nyayalayas has also been increased from Rs 39 crore to Rs 145 crore.

The Centre's plan to set up 5,000 gram nyayalayas across the country to bring justice delivery system to the common man's doorsteps has not found favour with the state governments.

More than a year after the Gram Nyayalaya Act was notified, only four states have established such rural courts, while five have rejected the idea citing various reasons.

According to figures compiled by the Law Ministry, since the Act was notified on October 2, 2009, four states together have established 96 rural courts while five others, including Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, have informed the Centre about their unwillingness to set up such courts.