Judiciary is not after fame, says Punchhi

Stressing the need for shoulder-to-shoulder functioning of all the three wings of democracy — Legislature, Executive and Judiciary — he, however, observed that the former two were "perhaps resting" and, therefore, people were looking towards Judiciary.

Advising judicial officers to bridge the gap between "decisions and substantial justice", Justice Punchhi said, "Quick disposal of cases alone does not matter. What matters more is justice."

He said that the Judiciary would become more fearless and strongonly when every one was ready to carry on with their duties with a sense of conviction. The real functioning of the judicial system was at the grass root level where the common people came for justice. Therefore, the Judiciary at the lower levels needed to be cleansed and corrected so that justice is dispensed to the people in the real sense, he added.

He called for a greater participatory role of judges in wiping out the tears of litigant public. "We can’t let our people down," he said, adding, "We should be guided by the language of heart than that of the head alone." He said that the truth always and ultimately prevailed over everything else. Truth is like sun rising every day, he added.

He also underlined the need to further expand the system of Lok Adalats as these had proved to be successful in mitigating the problems of litigants.

He cautioned lawyers against falling prey to commercialisation by stating that the money factor would hamper the dispensation of justice at the grass root level."Intellectual dishonesty will be a grave threat to the system of administration of justice," he cautioned.

Earlier, state Governor K V Krishana Rao in his presidential address said that a method should be evolved for the speedy prosecution and conviction of militants, especially those involved in a number of innocent killings.

Stating that he was not blaming the Judiciary, the Governor expressed concern over the fact that not a single militant had been convicted in Jammu and Kashmir though around 3,000 ultras were in jails or in detention centres at the time the popular government was installed in the state. Saying that a similar problem persisted in Punjab and Assam, he hoped that all those concerned would put their heads together and find a solution.

Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in his address said that there was a need for increasing the strength of the state High Court bench to 20 from the present 14 for expeditious disposal of cases. He asked the participants to deliberate on minimising theagonising delays in the disposal of cases.