By Andalib Akhter
President Draupadi Murmu has asked people associated with the justice system to take special care that getting justice does not become so expensive that it becomes out of reach of the common man.
The President was addressing the programme after laying the foundation stone of the new building of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh today. The President appealed to institutions and lawyers to come forward to make the process of getting justice easy and free. Describing the process of alternative resolution of disputes as important, the President said that there is a need to further strengthen the alternative justice system as it provides cheap, accessible, and speedy justice to the common people and also reduces the burden of cases on the courts.Expressing concern over the number of cases of undertrial prisoners pending in courts across the country, the President said that the courts, government, and police administration should make joint efforts to solve this pendency. Praising the recently passed ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Act’, the President also advised increasing the number of women judges in the courts. The programme was also addressed by Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangu Bhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Ravi Malimath.The new building of the Madhya Pradesh High Court will be built in an area of around 1.25 lakh square metres at a cost of about 460 crore rupees. It will be nine-storeyed and in the first phase, 31 courtrooms will be built in this building. There will be modern facilities for lawyers and the public on every floor. It will also have a parking facility for more than 400 cars with all the modern facilities for security and convenience including a building management system, fire fighting system, and CCTV. The new building is being constructed in place of the old district court.