National Judicial Infrastructure Authority

Due to the neglected state of judicial infrastructure in the country, there have been calls for establishing a National Judicial Infrastructure Authority. Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana also proposed the setting up of a judicial infrastructure Authority for effective functioning of the judiciary.

What is Judicial Infrastructure?

• Judicial infrastructure includes the physical premises of courts, tribunals, lawyers’ chambers, as well as the digital and human resources infrastructure. Judicial Infrastructure is necessary for ensuring timely dispensation of justice.

Why is Judicial Infrastructure lagging?

• Lack of Availability of Finances: According to the India Justice Report, India’s annual average spending on the judiciary was just 0.08 percent of GDP between 2011-12 and 2015-2016.
• There was a steep cut, from Rs. 990 crore in 2019-20 to Rs. 762 crore in 2020-21) in funds allocated for the creation of judicial infrastructure.
• Underutilized Funds: There is under-utilization of funds Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Judicial Infrastructure. For eg. Of Rs. 981.98 crore allocated in 2019-20, just about 84.9 crore was spent by combined five states.
• Thus, as much as 91 percent of the money was unutilised.
• Lack of Contribution from States: Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, states contribute 40 percent grant but most of the states fail to fulfill this commitment. Most of the states in India have allocated less than 2 percent from their budgets towards judicial infrastructure.
• Lack of Autonomy: Though the respective high courts have power to sanction district courts and related infrastructures but the decisions with regards to the implementation such as the allocation of land, permission for the complex are taken by the state governments.

Significance of NJIAI

The establishment of National Judicial Infrastructure Authority of India (NJIAI) is significant because of the following reasons-

• It will improve the financial autonomy of the judiciary as NJIAI will work as a central agency under the Supreme Court, as opposed to the present model, where the utilization of funds is at the mercy of states.
• Improved state of Judicial infrastructure in the district courts, high courts and supreme court, will help in reducing the pendency of almost 4 crore cases in the courts.