Poor facilities in lower courts slammed

NEW DELHI - Supreme Court judge S.H. Kapadia, tipped to be the Chief Justice of India in May, Saturday lamented the pathetic infrastructure in the lower courts in various states.

Justice Kapadia made the remarks at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a 12-acre Supreme Court annexe complex at the Pragati Maidan. The complex will include lawyers chambers, litigants’ lounge, auditorium and library.

“We are lucky we (Supreme Court) are in Delhi and the funds are available to us from the centre,” said Justice Kapadia, while lamenting the poor and pitiable infrastructure of the lower judiciary.

“The condition in lower courts is very bad. They don’t even have fans in courts and water coolers for litigants and lawyers,” he said.

State governments and the central government need to ensure proper funding for them, he said.

The foundation stone for the apex court annexe was laid by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.

The sprawling complex is to come up at a cost of Rs.550 crore on a plot which once housed the amusement park Appu Ghar.