Backlog of 650,000 cases to be cleared

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

Solicitor General Palitha Fernando said establishing super numery courts would be the best solution to clear the backlog of over 650,000 cases in the country.

He said though laws delays were not confined to Sri Lanka (it's a common issue in the Asian region including in India), the Ministry of Justice is now exploring the possibilities of addressing the issue.

"There is a large number of cases in the Anuradhapura, Hambantota and Colombo High Courts and a State Counsel will have to handle over 40 cases a day, which is humanly impossible. This situation has significantly contributed towards delays. However, we now concentrate on child abuse cases to start with and will expand to other cases to clear the backlog", he said.

Fernando told the Sunday Observer that among the measures to reduce the huge backlog of cases, the best remedies were increasing the number of court houses and judges.

"If the Ministry intends to increase the number of judges, theinfrastructure facilities need to be given to them. Now if a judge is transferred to a remote area, he/she will not be able to find accommodation. During the British era whereever they established court houses, they gave priority to providing decentaccommodation facilities for the judges", he said.

He said when Suhada Gamlath was the Secretary of the Justice Ministry, he took steps to computerise the Court Houses and construct new buildings. "We need to continue to provide state-of-the-art facilities in Court Houses, but need the financialresources for that", he said.