Emphasising on the need for delivering timely justice to people of the country at an affordable cost, prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that his government is committed to working with the judiciary to bring about improvements in justice delivery system.

“Due to rapid economic growth in the country in last two decades the task of justice delivery has become even more complex, specialised and challenging. Judiciary has a very direct role in this task – that of upholding the Rule of Law and ensuring that the people of India enjoy their fundamental rights like the Right to Life and Personal Liberty, Right to Equality etc,” Singh said while speaking at the concluding function to celebrate 150 years of the establishment of Bombay high court at the NCPA in Mumbai on Saturday.

Speaking on a slew of measures taken by the government to improve justice delivery system, the prime minister said, “Government has launched national mission for justice delivery with twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears and enhancing accountability. A comprehensive proposal has been formulated for establishment of an All India judicial service. Constitution amendment bill for raising the age of retirement of judges of the high courts is now before the parliament.”

“An inter-ministerial group is examining amendments in the Negotiable Instrument Act along with other measures to check increasing litigation arising out of cases of bouncing of cheques. A group under the chairman of Law Commission is looking at the improvements that are required in court procedure and processes for a better criminal justice system.”

The prime minster acknowledged the contribution of the Bombay high court in establishing a sound legal system in the country when he said that its landmark decisions have contributed to a legal and jurisprudential architecture of fairness, freedom, social justice and human rights. Its celebrated judgments in specialised branches of law such as intellectual property, cyber laws, securities and banking law, corporate laws and international commercial arbitration have vastly enriched our understanding of the evolving legal regime in these areas.

Emphasising on judicial integrity and maintaining judicial independence, chief justice of India, justice SH Kapadia said the turf war between judiciary and executive arises because the judiciary is guided by the morality of law while the executive is guided by the philosophy of utilitarianism. He pointed out that after 1974, there are very few instances where the judiciary has set aside legislations while most of its judgments are aimed at correcting executive actions.

Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan summarised the efforts made by his government in speeding up the justice delivery system, including establishment of fast track courts.

Among others, Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan, Goa governor BV Wanchoo, Goa chief minister Manohar Parikkar, Attorney General Goolam Vahanavaty and Chief Justice of the Bombay high court, justice Mohit S Shah were also present.