Armed Forces Tribunal will boost pending court cases: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
India Today
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the Armed Forces Tribunal will boost the cases lying pending in the courts.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the Armed Forces Tribunal will boost the cases lying pending in the courts. “The government is committed to making the Armed Forces Tribunal more empowered and responsive and implementing measures that were required in this direction,” Singh said.
Addressing the gathering at a seminar titled ‘Introspection: Armed Forces Tribunal’, organized by the Armed Forces Tribunal Principal Bench Bar Association in New Delhi, he said that the Judiciary is a strong pillar of democracy and judicial officers, and lawyers are in turn pillars of this judicial system.
He further said, “People knock on the doors of the judiciary when all other options are closed to them.”Rajnath Singh added that domain-specific Tribunals were set up to deal with diverse cases and clear pending cases. He stressed that litigants have trust in our judiciary and whatever measures required were being implemented, such as filling up of vacancies in the Tribunals, to expedite the justice delivery process. He also assured the gathering that the government would consider suggestions that would emerge from the seminar to fulfill the aspirations of ex-Servicemen and serving personnel for the speedy delivery of justice.The Defence Minister called for a balance between ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ and ‘justice hurried is justice buried’ to lessen the burden of pendency on the judicial system in general and the Armed Forces Tribunal in particular, as the timely delivery of justice will not only reduce the burden on the Armed Forces Tribunal but will also reinforce the confidence of our soldiers in the system.
Rajnath Singh informed the gathering that in India, the Armed Forces Tribunal has both Original and Appellate Jurisdiction, whereas even today some developed countries such as the USA and UK only have appellate jurisdiction.Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju also spoke in the seminar, stressing that the government was working to reduce the pendency of the cases. He stated that tribunals like the Armed Forces Tribunal were playing a crucial role in reducing the pendency. The Chief of the Army Staff, General Manoj Pandey, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhary and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral, R Hari Kumar, were present.
