Important Point - It is the obligation of the State Government to provide all necessary infrastructure to the newly established as well as the existing Courts and Tribunals for the benefit of the Judicial Officers, litigants, members of the staff as well as members of the Bar.

A.S. Oka, J.

OVERVIEW

1. Though submissions were fully heard on 26th October 2016, the Petitions were fixed for rehearing on 31st January 2017 and 31st March 2017 to enable the parties to make submissions on the basis of the Judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Imtiyaz Ahmed.

2. This group of Public Interest Litigations/Writ Petitions concerns the issues of infrastructure of Civil and Criminal Courts in the State, Consumer Fora at State level and District level under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short “the said Act of 1986”), the Cooperative Courts and the Cooperative Appellate Courts established under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 (for short “the said Act of 1960”) and the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in Mumbai established under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short “M.V. Act”). The judiciary is considered to be a vital pillar of democracy. The common man has a lot of hopes and expectations from the Courts and Tribunals. Therefore, almost all Courts and Tribunals in the State of Maharashtra suffer from over flow of dockets. Almost all the Courts and Tribunals in the State lack proper infrastructure.

3. As on 4th May 2017, going by the figures available on National Judicial Data Grid, in Civil and Criminal Courts, Cooperative Courts and Cooperative Appellate Courts, Labour Courts and Industrial Courts as well as Family Courts in the State, total 32,39,623 cases were pending. Out of which, 21,30,614 were criminal cases. 15.32% cases were more than five years' old cases. Total 33,711 cases were pending as of 4th May 2017 in the Family Courts in the State. On that date, total 9590 case were pending in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Mumbai. We are reproducing these figures only to show the importance of the issue of lack of availability of adequate number of Judges and lack of proper infrastructure to the Courts and Tribunals in the State. There are 407 Court Complexes in the State of traditional Civil and Criminal Courts out of which 72 are in the properties taken on rent.

LEGAL POSITION

4. Before we go into the factual details, the legal position will have to be restated so that the facts can be considered in light of the legal position. Part IV of the Constitution of India contains the Directive Principles of the State Policy. The Article 39A incorporated in Part IV of the Constitution of India reads thus:-

“39A. Equal justice and free legal aid. The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.”

5. The obligation of the State to the Judiciary will have to be considered in the light of the aforesaid directive principle of the State Policy. The issue of obligation of the State Government to provide infrastructure to the Judiciary came up for consideration in the case of Purshottam Manohar Kamone V. State of Maharashtra, 2001(4) Mh.L.J. 320. The Paragraph 6 of the said decision reads thus:-

“6. It is no longer debatable and rather it is well settled that the speedy justice is an ingredient of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and, therefore, each litigant has a fundamental right of a speedy justice. That being so, it is the corresponding obligation of the State to constitute sufficient number of Courts, Tribunals and forums so that a litigant, who has knocked the door of the Court or Tribunal, is able to get justice speedy. Taking into consideration the huge pendency of motor accident claim cases at Nagpur, expected future filing and slow disposal of such cases, it is necessary for the State Government to provide sufficient Motor Accident Claims Tribunals at Nagpur. This is essential to