Union Minister of Law & Justice, Kiren Rijiju and Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha chaired a high-level meeting to review the development of judicial infrastructure in the UTs of Jammu Kashmir & Ladakh at the Raj Bhavan.
The meeting was attended by Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Sh Vivek Bhardwaj, Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary) Finance Department; Sh G.R. Raghavender, Joint Secretary (National Mission for Justice Delivery & Legal Reforms), Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice; Sh Sanjeev Gupta, Registrar General, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh; Sh Achal Sethi, Law Secretary, J&K; Sh. Preet Pal Singh, Secretary Law Department, UT of Ladakh, besides other senior officers.
During the meeting, the Minister was briefed on the present status of the infrastructure of the Judiciary under the purview of the High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh. He was apprised on the budgetary allocation, utilization of funds for the development of infrastructure in court complexes during the previous years, future projects and major projects under execution.
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice also apprised the meeting about the status of works done under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
Union Law Minister directed the concerned officers to identify all the gaps pertaining to the infrastructure development of Judiciary under the High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh. He said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, special priority is being given to the development of Jammu Kashmir, Ladakh and North East regions. He assured that sufficient funding will be allocated for removing all the gaps in judicial infrastructure across the UTs of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh.
During the meeting, the Lt Governor said that the administration has to play a key role in overhauling the infrastructure development of court complexes across the UT. He stressed on making meticulous plans in collaboration with the representatives from the Judiciary.
It was decided that public utilities shall be constructed and renovated in all courts across the region.
Directions were also issued to ensure that all court complexes which are having rented buildings will be provided with new complexes by the end of this fiscal. There shall be complete e-filing system in District Courts for which adequate funds would be released by the Central Government.
The meeting also decided that the construction work of Jammu District Court Complex will be started soon.