Judges need to be free‚ fair: Acting CJ Acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma has called on the judges to exhibit highest level of independence and impartiality. Addressing a three-day regional conference of judges and judicial educators on judicial education, Sharma said, “Independence and impartiality are personal virtues and matters of mental attitude and temperament, which depend upon judicial education and culture.” According to Sharma, judicial education is imperative to embellish judges with virtues. He pointed that people are still finding it hard to get justice. “In the absence of their access to justice, people have been unable to make their voices heard, exercise their rights, challenge discrimination or hold decision makers accountable.” Justice will serve no purpose if only a privileged few have access to it, he reasoned. “Therefore, we have an onerous duty to remove obstacles in ensuring easy access to justice for all by making the judicial system fair and impartial.” Supreme Court Justice Kalyan Shrestha laid emphasis on the need to increase access to justice by overcoming the shortcomings plaguing the legal system in the region. The judges and the judicial officials participating in the three-day conference from the SAARC region have been discussing ways to improve people’s access to justice. They also shared their experiences regarding mediation, access to justice and fast-track court. On the occasion, Minister for Law and Justice Hari Prasad Neupane lauded the outreach programme that National Judicial Council had launched last year to train attorneys and lawyers. He expressed hope that the programme will enhance the legal professionals’ capacity, thereby helping deliver justice. Executive Director of the National Judicial Academy, Raghav Lal Vaidya, however, said it was sad that the media was portraying the judiciary negatively. “This has been discouraging people from seeking judicial remedies.” According to Vaidya, dissemination of information about the judiciary and the judicial process is often a big challenge. “Biased reports may create misunderstanding about availability of judicial service pertaining to judicial process or time incurred in disposal of cases and expenses involved in litigation.”
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 03:59:57 +0000
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