Efforts on to speed up court cases, replies Shanmugham

The Poonamallee MLA also said that the advocates and litigants are finding it difficult to get judgment copies from various courts as there is a shortage of judges and infrastructure at district level courts.

Intervening, Law Minister CVe Shanmugham said that the state government was taking all efforts to speed up the pendency of cases by appointing judges. The state has envisaged a massive digitisation project at a cost of Rs 47 crore, he said. “All the files and important judgments of Madras High Court are digitised and this mission upon completion will help the stake holders to speed up the judicial process. Till now the state has scanned more than one crore judgment copies and the eight-year long process is still on. The total sanctioned strength of judges in the state is 1,174. Of this, there are 1,094 judges serving the state leaving only 83 posts vacant. The state had also started training programme for new civil judges and the vacancies will soon be filled,” Shanmugham said.

He added that the state government gives utmost importance to the directions of Madras High Court and the vacancies related to judicial posts are being filled fast.

The state is also taking steps to make Tamil, the official language in High Court and the issue will be taken up before the Supreme Court, Shanmugham clarified.

Replying to the demand for establishing more government law colleges, Shanmugham said that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has sanctioned Rs 210 crore to establish three law colleges in Villupuram, Dharmapuri and Ramanathapuram. The Villupuram Law College constructed at a cost of Rs 70 crore is nearing completion and will soon be inaugurated by the Chief Minister.