India to improve judiciary

LONDON: Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily said India is to undertake reform measures to improve its judiciary, reported The Hindustan Times. Measures include improvements in the legal education system and the setting up of international arbitration courts that will dispose of any litigation within a year, in an attempt to make India a more preferred destination for investors.

Moily, a former chief minister of Karnataka and Chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, said: “Any investment above Rs5 crore will be decided in commercial courts within a year.” He further added that it is top government priority right now to reform the legal education and upgrade course contents in the 933 law colleges across the country.

Deputy High Commissioner to the UK, R N Prasad was present along with Moily during his interactions with journalists.

The reforms will involve putting in place a legal regulatory regime and an oversight mechanism for the smooth functioning of the judiciary without infringing on the independence of the judiciary.

“In the first stage, with a view to fast track the delivery of justice and creating centres of excellence, we established National Law Schools. Now in the second stage, we would like to introduce the second generation legal reforms. At present litigation in India involves delay of over 15 years. The Government would like to reduce this delay to less than 3 years,” he said.

Moily said the Commercial Court Bill would soon become a law, paving the way for speedy disposal of cases through arbitration. Lok Sabha has passed the Bill and it will go before the Rajya Sabha now.

Moreover, the amendment of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act would remove the distractions and make the legislation more vibrant.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2010.