Ease of justice as important as ease of doing business and ease of living: PM Modi

Addressing the first All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet here, he also said that ease of justice was as important as ease of doing business and ease of living

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said ease of justice is as important as ease of doing business, while emphasising the need for legal aid for undertrials languishing in jail.

Addressing the inaugural session of the All India District Legal Services Authorities Meet, he said that justice is very important for the country, and access to justice and justice delivery are also equally important for the society.

“This is the time of 'Azadi ke Amrit Kaal'. This is the time for the resolutions that will take the country to new heights in the next 25 years. Like ease of doing business and ease of living, ease of Justice is equally important in this amrit yatra of the country," Modi said.

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Sharing the stage with Chief Justice N V Ramana and other senior judges of the Supreme Court Jstices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud, along with law minister Kiren Rijiju, the PM said the legal aid as mentioned in the directive principles of the state policy reflected in the faith of the citizens in the judiciary of the country.

"As important as access to the judicial system is for any society, justice delivery is equally important. The judicial infrastructure also has an important contribution to this. In the last eight years, work has been done at a fast pace to strengthen the judicial infrastructure of the country,” he said.

The PM pointed out the government is spending Rs 9,000 crore towards modernising judicial infrastructure for improving justice delivery mechanisms. He commended e-court mission and use of technology in the judiciary.

"Under the e-courts mission, virtual courts are being started in the country. 24-hour courts have started functioning for traffic violations. Video conferencing infrastructure is also being expanded in the courts for the convenience of the people,” he said.

More than one crore cases have been heard through video conferencing in the country by district courts and over 60 lakh by the High Courts and the Supreme Court and this proves that “our judicial system is committed to the ancient Indian values of justice and, at the same time, is ready to match the realities of the 21st century," he said.

The PM also said that the district legal services authorities can take up the responsibility of providing legal aid to undertrial prisoners. He asked the district judges, as chairpersons of undertrial review committees, to expedite the release of undertrial prisoners.