The comment came at the inauguration of a new HC building.

NEW DELHI: The Chief Justice of India , Dipak Misra, on Wednesday publicly disagreed with the central government ’s claim that enough funds were being spent to improve court infrastructure in the country.

The CJI’s comment on the lack of necessary infrastructure came at the inauguration of a building inside the Delhi high court complex. The ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan was also attended by Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and other Supreme Court judges.

It was Justice N V Ramana of the Supreme Court who first underlined before law minister Prasad the need to improve facilities and court infrastructure across the country.

A former chief justice of the Delhi HC, Justice Ramana said digitisation and infrastructure remained crucial areas of concern. Calling for a national judicial infrastructure corporation, he requested the government to give more thoughts to replicate the Delhi HC facilities in other courts.

But Prasad cited statistics to claim his government had done the most to appoint judges or spend funds for infrastructure. Prasad also referred to “differences among judges”, which, he said, can only be sorted out internally and “political processes should not intervene”.

Speaking at the end, CJI Misra said, “Hon’ble law minister has mentioned to you about thousands and thousands of crores spent on courts. I found that many people were clapping. I am not going to ask him what is the percentage allocation invested for judicial infrastructure.”

CM Kejriwal thanked the judiciary for keeping the executive and the legislature on the right path when they stray, adding that “we owe a debt to the judiciary”. Emphasising that his government is committed to an independent judiciary, he said, “Landmark judgments in the past few months by Supreme Court has re-affirmed the faith of public in the judiciary.”

Under fire from an SC bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur over failure to check unauthorised constructions, the LG pointed out in the judge’s presence that city-centric urbanisation didn’t appear to have worked and new solutions must be sought.

Congratulating the Delhi HC for constructing a state-of-the-art, litigant-friendly building, the CJI rued, “Most of the courts lack basic infrastructure for judges, court staff and litigants.”

